Where all the money goes

For a number of years David Hills has been putting together the excellent 'Said & Done' column in the Observer newspaper each Sunday. It's a "must read", combining useful research and a tongue-in-cheek approach to highlight the growing gap between rhetoric and reality among those who run, play, manage - and profit from - the global game.

Sepp orders a Latte...

This week, we learn, inter alia, that  ever-charming Sepp Blatter's report for FIFA on the World Cup ("I am the happiest man. It's a huge, huge financial success") reveals: • $4.19 billion income from the four-year World Cup cycle, tax-free via FIFA's status as a "non-profit body existing to invest in football development". • A rather smaller $794 million amount invested in football development, including FIFA's 'Win in Africa' social project. • $631 million added to FIFA's reserves (now standing at a record $1.2 billion, up from just $76 million in 2003). • $707 million on "expenses". Naturally. • FIFA's wage bill: $65.3 million paid to 387 employees – averaging $168,700 each.

And the rest?  Watch Hills' space.
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