According to article 69, paragraph 2 of the FIFA Statutes, FIFA’s revenue and expenditure “shall be managed so that they balance out over the financial period”. Furthermore, “FIFA’s major duties in the future shall be guaranteed through the creation of reserves”.

Approximately 90 per cent of FIFA’s revenue is generated through the sale of television, marketing, hospitality and licensing rights for the FIFA World Cup™. The revenue from the commercialisation of these rights and sufficient equity is of crucial importance to FIFA because, in addition to funding its range of development programmes and covering general running costs, it must also finance the organisation of
various international tournaments, including, most notably, the FIFA World Cup™. Almost 70% of expenditure flows back into football development in the form of financial support, development programmes and funding competitions.

At the beginning of 2003, FIFA began to voluntarily draw up its financial statements in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), which otherwise only apply to listed companies in Europe. As most of FIFA’s activities take place in the “dollar zone”, the governing body’s balance sheet and income statement are drawn up in US dollars.