The Most Expensive World Cups Ever

The World Cup is the only single sports event that united the whole world every four years. This year, the tournament is taking us to Qatar. Find out how much money it takes to host something of this scale. In this article, we listed the five most expensive World Cup tournaments ever. It’s no secret that Qatar 2022 takes first place, but what other events made the list? Find out now. The FIFA World Cup is the single biggest sporting event in the world. It rivals the Olympics in popularity and it's set to overtake the event in the coming years. With the 2026 tournament being held in North America, the World Cup is set to achieve viewership numbers like never before. Usually, the organizing of the tournament gets more expensive on each occasion. But the numbers are unbelievable this year. These are the five most expensive World Cups ever, in descending order.

Qatar 2022 to Break the Bank

The 2022 World Cup will take place in Qatar between 20 November and 18 December. This year’s event cost an inhuman amount of money. Adding up the building of new stadiums, the renovation of old ones, and completely new infrastructure, the 2022 event cost over $220 billion. The majority of this money went to infrastructure as it’s a part of a bigger plan for Qatar’s future. About $7-$10 billion went to the construction of new stadiums alone. Many retired athletes voiced their opinions about the working conditions as well. The 2022 tournament will also be the first World Cup held in the Arab world. Additionally, it’s also the first World Cup not held in the summer due to the extreme temperatures. There’s a little over a month left until the tournament begins so we recommend checking out these 2022 World Cup betting predictions. Overall, this will most likely remain the most expensive World Cup for some time.

Russia 2018 – The Most Expensive World Cups Ever

The World Cup was consistently getting more expensive with each event. This was the case with Russia 2018 too, which was the most expensive World Cup ever at the time. Some sources estimate the tournament’s cost was between $11 and 13$ billion. In reality, Russia 2018 cost around $14.2 billion in total. The event was held between 14 June and 15 July, and more than 3 million people attended the matches. This was also the first-ever World Cup held in Eastern Europe. Half of the $10 billion federal budget went to transportation infrastructure. Additional funding came in from regional budgets and investors as well. Aviation infrastructure and the construction of new hotels kept the budget growing. In some regions where the tournament took place, the initial budget exceeded the allocated amount by a lot. It’s crazy to think that Russia 2018 was only a few years ago. The gap between the most and second most expensive World Cup ever is huge.

Did Brazil Benefit a Lot From the 2014 World Cup?

The 2014 event was the first ever World Cup to exceed $10 billion in costs. Out of the estimated total of $11.6 billion, stadium construction and renovation took up most of the budget. $3.6 billion was spent on this part of the project. The other costly projects included urban mobility and airport upgrades. Additionally, less than 15% of the total budget was covered by investors. Everything else came from the federal and state budget. A big percentage of Brazilian citizens thought that hosting the World Cup would be a bad thing for their country. Apart from being the hosts of the third most expensive World Cup ever, Brazil always performs well in football. They’re currently the favorites to win this year’s tournament. Furthermore, experts have suggested that the 2022 World Cup is going either to Brazil or Argentina. You can follow the odds on 20Bet Sportsbook.

2002 South Korea and Japan – The First Big Jump in Costs

This was the second tournament to cost multiple billion dollars. The hosting of the 1998 World Cup was the first one to push the costs into the billion-dollar range. Eventually, the 2002 tournament cost around $7 billion which was three times more than the previous event. This was also the first time that a World Cup was hosted between two countries. A total of 64 matches were played in the tournament and ticket sales generated $1.2 billion. FIFA promised the hosts could keep all revenue from this. South Korea and Japan both qualified for this year’s tournament. They’re in Group E and H respectively. Odds for single matches, and group and tournament outcomes are all available on online sportsbook sites in Spain. It’s time to see how these two have progressed since they hosted the most expensive World Cup ever at its time.

2006 Germany Was a Huge Success

There is only a $600 million difference in costs between the 1990 and 2006 World Cups. We say only because, with this year’s tournament costs, $600 million seems irrelevant. At the time, the 2006 World Cup was to not have extended a previous tournament in costs. It took $4.6 billion to host the biggest sporting event in Germany in 2006. This was a significant decrease from the $7 billion four years before. The other notable decrease was from 1990 to 1994, when the costs went from $4 billion to $500 million. The 2006 World Cup was a huge success for Germany. Tourism revenue and retail skyrocketed at the time. The Bundesliga also profited later on from this, by drawing more viewers and investors. For a long time, Germany have been among the favorites to win the World Cup every four years. They’re in the same group as Spain, which should prove to be very entertaining. Check out our Group E predictions while you still can.

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