FIFA predicts World Cup 2022 will reach 5 billion viewers

The president of FIFA has estimated that 5 billion people around the globe will watch the 2022 World Cup from Qatar.

The event, which has been embroiled in controversies surrounding everything from financing to human rights abuses, will be the first to take place in the Middle East, and, due to the region’s scorching summer temperatures, will be the first winter World Cup.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, FIFA president Gianni Infantino said that the upcoming event will break the records set by the equally controversial 2018 World Cup in Russia, which was watched by 3.5 billion people.

Gianni Infantino

The president also noted that while the sport has a global gross output of US$200 billion, 70% of that total is generated in Europe. 

FIFA has recently faced calls from Amnesty International to set aside US$440 million to compensate migrant workers in Qatar for ‘human rights abuses’ in the build up to the World Cup – accusations which Qatar has repeatedly denied.

The charity, along with a number of other rights groups, sent a letter to Infantino calling on the governing body to work with member associations to protect migrant workers in the future.