Fifa expects 2010 World Cup loss

Cape Town - According to a report circulated on Thursday by the website Project 2010, Fifa expects to make a marginal loss on the 2010 World Cup.

Quoting a report in The Guardian the report said this is in contrast to the £178m profit it made in the 2006 tournament year.

A senior Fifa source told the newspaper that the governing body expects to be called upon to underwrite "a few thousand dollars" in overall losses in South Africa this year.

"But that is a much happier picture than the one Fifa painted eight months ago, when releasing its accounts for the 12 months to the end of 2008. To guard against financial risks, Fifa has been hoarding cash since the 2002 World Cup and by January 2009 it had exceeded its £500m equity target by £63m."

A statement with those accounts also quoted in the report read: "At the halfway stage in the 2007-2010 period, Fifa had already achieved its objective of increasing equity to at least £500m by the end of 2010.

Nevertheless, a definitive assessment of Fifa's equity can only be carried out once the 2010 Fifa World Cup has been successfully staged."

At that point Fifa was concerned about the financial impact of the potential postponement or relocation of the tournament. The source stressed that this was only a possible financial consequence and that enormous losses are "out of the question" now.

The true picture of Fifa's finances will be made clear within the coming weeks with the release of the 2009 accounts, but the source underlined that the organisation's equity is now "far above" the £500m target. Which will no doubt come as a considerable relief to football associations around the world.

- I-Net Bridge