Geneva (EFE) — Three out of every four people on the planet — some 6 billion fans — are expected to follow the FIFA World Cup kicking off this Thursday, while the tournament is projected to inject $41 billion into global GDP, according to a report published Tuesday by Swiss banking giant UBS. The study, […]
Geneva (EFE) — Three out of every four people on the planet — some 6 billion fans — are expected to follow the FIFA World Cup kicking off this Thursday, while the tournament is projected to inject $41 billion into global GDP, according to a report published Tuesday by Swiss banking giant UBS.
The study, produced by UBS’s wealth management division, examines the evolution of the global football industry and concludes that the sport — practiced by hundreds of millions worldwide — is transforming into something increasingly institutionalized, diversified and, in the bank’s own words, “attractive for investment.”
Record Revenue at the Top
The numbers at the elite level back that up. The 20 highest-earning clubs in the world posted record combined revenues of €12.4 billion in the 2024/25 season, an 11% year-over-year increase, according to the report.
Money Is Reshaping Who Owns the Game
UBS also flagged a structural shift in how football clubs are owned and financed. “Ownership models in football have evolved, with an increasing presence of institutional capital, minority stakes, and more complex financial structures,” the report notes — a trend that mirrors what has happened in other major U.S. sports leagues over the past two decades.
The findings frame the World Cup not just as a sporting spectacle but as a global economic event — one that, at least by UBS’s accounting, now rivals the scale of a mid-size country’s annual output.
