Football Federation Australia Under Budget for Failed 2022 World Cup Bid

Football Federation Australia (FFA) were $3 million under budget for their failed 2022 World Cup bid it was revealed to the Federal Government.

 

The bid team spent $42.25 million of the $45.59 million of Government funds granted to underwrite the ambitious project, $3.34 million under budget.

But the accounts also showed the leather bound Bid Book – the 700-plus page dossier detailing the fine print of the bid – cost more than $11 million, $3 million over the estimated $8 million.

Included in that was the $3.82million it cost for the final presentation in Zurich alone, plus another $4.89 million to prepare the Bid Book itself (which included scanning 60,000 contracts).

Using consultants like Sepp Blatter cohort Peter Hargitay and bid book specialist  Feder Radmann cost a total of $6.72 million, with Hargitay picking up $1.45 million and Radmann $3.63.

However the bid saved more than $3 million by not having to pay out win bonuses to the consultants.

The figures also reveal the bid spent more than $2 million on charity donations in Asia and Africa including $1.25 million to Vision Asia, $500,000 in “support for Oceania Football Confederation”, $140,000 towards Chengdu Emergency Relief and $90,000 on lapdesks in Africa.

Football United was given $30,000 while a South African children’s hospital received $150,000.

However the bid team has saved $950,000 in the wake of the bid’s failure by backtracking on planned investment towards developing football in Asia.

PR cost the bid $1.54 million while another $4.86 million was spent on marketing and advertising, mostly in payments to outside agencies.

Domestic and international travel ran up a $2.64million bill, but it was stressed FFA Chairman Frank Lowy paid his own way for all his travel expenses.

Staff costs added up to $5.65 million, but FFA CEO Ben Buckley’s wage and that of other executive figures like head of development John Boultbee and the head of legal affairs and the chief finance officer were not included in that total.

Ben Buckley, FFA CEO, commented: “Although the submission of this report was a formality it was also an important milestone for FFA under our obligations contained in the funding agreement. The acceptance of the report marks the end of the bid process and with our commitments to the Federal Government around the bid now complete we can close the chapter on this stage of our history.”

“We were all disappointed with the result of the decision and we are on record as saying that we believe the bid process was flawed. However, we are very proud of the bid we submitted on behalf of Australia which was widely acknowledged as technically strong.