Canada’s qualification for Qatar 2022 was not only a sporting achievement for the North American team, which has so far been present in the FIFA World Cup once, Mexico’s version in 1986, but also represents an unprecedented economic boom for Canadians.
It is estimated that for playing in the World Cup in Qatar, FIFA will pay the Canadian Football Association (Canada Football Association) about $12 million, a figure that far exceeds similar matches received in recent years and represents more than the total income of 2020. .
This sporting and economic success was no coincidence, but rather the result of the growing power of football at all levels of Canadian society, which allowed football to supplant the national sport, ice hockey, as the most popular sport in Canada.
The bounty is distributed across the entire Canadian football and throwback ecosystem, to two Spanish companies: Mediapro and Atlético de Madrid.
Mediapro owns the broadcast rights to the Canadian professional football league, the Canadian Premier League (CPL), which was created in 2019. For its part, Atlético in 2020 bought one of the eight CPL franchises, Atlético Ottawa, for an estimated figure of just over €1 million. .
With the rise of the Canadian national team and football in general in the country, Mediapro and Atlético de Madrid’s investments in the CPL have gained value. Some sources indicate that the value of Atlético de Madrid’s investments has increased fivefold in just two years.
Millions of rain
Coming back to Canada Soccer, in 2019, before covid-19, its total revenue was $19.8 million.
In 2020, the last year that Canada Soccer’s financial results were announced, the number fell to $11.5 million, including government aid and grants, due to the effects of the pandemic.
The union’s most important income component is commercial fees ranging from sponsorship agreements to services rendered, which two years ago amounted to $3.7 million.
Meanwhile, government aid was not far behind, adding $3.6 million.
In addition, the Canadian Football Association brought in $2 million in fees from federal players and another $2 million in grants from FIFA and Concacaf.
In the same year, expenses for all the men’s teams in the association were about 2.5 million dollars, while the expenses of the women’s teams, the most successful to date in Canadian football, amounted to 2.2 million dollars.
Looking at these numbers, it is clear that the success of the Canadian men’s soccer team is not only athletic but also economic.
In addition to the direct income that Canada will receive for Qatar Football 2022, the interest generated by the team expects to double income from concepts such as tickets for future matches for the team or marketing.
Not only did Canada qualify for Qatar 2022 for the first time in the octagonal CONCACAF tournament that decided which teams from North and Central America would travel to the 2022 World Cup, but it did so by losing just two of the 14 matches played.
Attractive to patrons
Canada’s historic performance in the octagon is already paying off.
Sponsors love success stories that showcase traditional underdogs, which is something Canada is a good fit for.
On March 23, a few days before Canada confirmed its qualification for Qatar 2022 with a 4-0 victory over Jamaica in Toronto, the Canadian Football Association announced that it had reached a sponsorship agreement with the brand for the first time. .
The multi-year deal, for which no numbers have been released, makes Gatorade, a brand of US food and beverage giant PepsiCo, Canada’s Sucker Sports and Nutrition Equilibrium partner.
When announcing the agreement, Pepsico Canada’s Marketing Director Lourdes Seminario noted the “growth and enthusiasm” that exists in Canada for the future of football, and added her relief to have the company’s name join “some of the key athletes on some of the biggest stages” in the sport.
With Gatorade, there are now nine companies that have sponsorship deals with Canada Soccer, including multinational sports equipment company Nike and automaker Toyota.
The Canadian Federation hopes that the agreement with Gatorade will be one of the other contracts to arrive in the future.
Because as Canadian coach John Herdman pointed out, after beating Jamaica on March 27, qualifying for Qatar 2022 is a before-and-after sign.
“It will change the country and our sport forever,” Herdmann said.
Julio Cesar Rivas
