Football’s world governing body FIFA is looking to raise up to $2bn to expand its streaming service, according to a Bloomberg News report.
FIFA has enlisted UBS Group for the fund-raising exercise which is expected to target financial investors in the US and Middle East, the report said, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
The investment would be for a minority stake in the streaming platform FIFA+, which was launched in 2022 as a free ad-supported service to live stream soccer matches.
At launch, FIFA+ said it would stream 40,000 live games per year from 100 Member Associations across all six confederations, including 11,000 women’s matches.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino said at the time that the platform was part of the organisation’s “vision to make football truly global and inclusive, and it underpins FIFA’s core mission of expanding and developing football globally.”
Bloomberg’s report suggest FIFA is both accelerating the development of its streaming platform and seeking new revenue streams.
It is understood that FIFA has struggled to generate substantial income outside its flagship tournament World Cup which is played every four years.
Next year’s 32-team Club World Cup has reportedly found it hard to find sponsors and broadcasters to back the competition.
FIFA was in talks with Apple for a global broadcast deal, but the talks are reported to have stalled.
Apple is believed to have tabled a $1bn bid for the event, less than a quarter of the $4bn of FIFA’s revenue target.
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