The 2026 Fifa Men's World Cup reaffirmed football's position as the world's biggest international sporting event. Despite initial concerns over the expansion from 32 to 48 teams, the tournament delivered memorable matches, goals, storylines, controversies, strong viewership and robust revenues.
Among sports centred around countries rather than clubs, football remains the financial benchmark.
For India, cricket offers a bright spot. Its global governing body is now financially stronger than those of several other major sports, although expanding the game's global footprint remains a challenge.
The global game
One way to gauge the financial strength of a sport is through the revenues of its global governing body or groups at a global level that additionally have ties to national federations.
For example, in cricket, the International Cricket Council (ICC) is the governing body at the global level, and the boards of cricket-playing countries like India, Australia and England are its members. In football, the global governing body is Fifa (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). Set up in 1904, it has 211 countries as its members. The men’s World Cup, held every four years, is its marquee event.
A four-year revenue comparison between various global federations highlights staggering disparity.
Fifa’s revenues are nearly 3.75 times that of ICC's. While cricket commands large, passionate viewership in some countries (particularly in South Asia), football’s truly global footprint, mature commercial markets and corporate sponsorships place Fifa in a league of its own. Despite the gap with Fifa, the ICC firmly secures the second-place spot among nation-centric sports, with $2.7 billion in revenues over a four-year cycle.
Cyclical to stable
The ICC has come a long way in monetization, transitioning from cyclical patterns to a more steady and permanent revenue structure. Previously, the ICC's revenues mirrored the men's one-day international (ODI) world cup, held once in four years. As a result, the rise in revenues in 2015 and 2019—both World Cup years—would compensate for relatively tepid years around it.
However, 2023, when India hosted the men’s ODI World Cup, marked an inflexion point. Revenue skyrocketed to a record $839 million. Crucially, unlike previous cycles, this momentum did not collapse, with revenues of $728 million in 2024 and $706 million in 2025.
The ICC is responsible for organizing international cricket tournaments, notably the men's and women's ODI World Cups, men's and women's T20 World Cup, the World Test Championship, and men's and women's Champions Trophy.
In the past few years, each of these tournaments have grown in stature, creating a more consistent pipeline of marquee events for the ICC and supporting steady revenues through lucrative, multi-year broadcast deals.
Cash cows
While the ICC handles multinational tournaments, bilateral series and domestic cricket are handled by the respective national boards. In India, the governing body is the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The BCCI is the richest cricket board, even richer than the ICC. In 2024-25, it reported revenues of ₹11,055 crore, or about $1.3 billion. Its biggest revenue driver is the Indian Premier League (IPL), a club-based T20 league.
In 7 of the last 12 years, IPL revenues have exceeded the BCCI’s own revenues. Over this period, the IPL has transitioned from a significant revenue stream to the bedrock of the BCCI's financial empire. In five of the last seven years, IPL profits have accounted for 40-60% of BCCI’s revenues.
The IPL has given the BCCI unmatched financial muscle, making it the most influential board in world cricket and secures India's massive influence within the ICC. In the ongoing 2024-27 cycle, the BCCI will reportedly receive about 38.5% of ICC’s annual net earnings—more than any other member country.
Going global
Fifa follows a similar model to the ICC. Much of the revenue it generates is redistributed to member associations. Under its ‘Forward Development Programme’, it provides grants to member countries to cover both operational costs in relation to football activities and specific football projects.
As part of this programme, the football association in India received about $15 million between 2016 and 2025.
Between 2011-14 and the projected 2027-30 cycle, Fifa's four-year revenues are expected to rise from about $5.5 billion to about $14 billion, driven by broadcasting and sponsorship. In its previous cycle, from 2019 to 2022, it invested about 70% of its revenues into footballing activities.
This is projected to increase to about 89% in this cycle. Fifa's financial trajectory reflects a commercial expansion, supporting efforts to broaden football's reach beyond its traditional European and South American strongholds. One outcome of this push was the expansion of the 2026 Men's World Cup from 32 teams to 48 teams.
Private challenge
For football, and other team sports, a growing challenge is from private leagues, which are far more profit-oriented in their objectives. Since they intersect with the best of private enterprise and capital, they also command bigger budgets.
While flagship nation-based tournaments like the Fifa World Cup occur only once every four years, and run for four to six weeks, private leagues operate for eight to nine months every year, offering broadcasters significantly more hours of live programming.
The broadcasting rights for the 2026 Fifa World Cup were reportedly sold for $4.3 billion. The annual broadcasting valuations of several private club leagues exceeds that, led by the NFL (American football), NBA (American basketball) and the EPL (football in England).
International tournaments are concentrated into a short window and attract a larger share of casual viewers, while private leagues keep fans engaged throughout the year, making them easier to monetize. The 2026 Fifa World Cup reaffirmed football's global appeal, but the commercial challenge from year-round private leagues remains.
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