Brazil 2014, arguably the most exciting World Cup in recent times, has reached its final stage.
Football, the beautiful game, the World Game, has its problems, players cheat to get penalties, the FIFA has corruption allegations hanging over its head & some games were tedious, tight & defensive during the knockout stage, and then there is the highly emotionally charged & yet unsatisfactory penalty shoot out lottery............
Despite all of that, the Beautiful Game unarguably continues to maintain its at times hard to understand universal MAGICAL attraction. The worldwide appeal of football is simply unmatched by any other sport, team or individual.
Football is played, loved or followed regularly by an estimated 4-5 billion people around the world. It generates revenues unimagined or unheard of in most other sports, and even beats the Olympics in the cumulative TV audience as the most successful single event in the world.
........so when two nations play the WC Final, as Argentina vs Germany will do tomorrow morning at 5am EST, an estimated ONE BILLION people around the world will be watching and another few hundred million will watch the replay and/or highlights later on!
The sponsorship money is staggering & the total revenue generated from the tournament will be in excess of $2bUS.
FIFA will pay each of the Football Federations of the unsuccessful teams in the group stage will each receive $9mUS each & the winning finalist's Federation will receive $37m....despite corruptions & disputes, most of this money goes to players & grassroots development of the game amongst mostly disadvantaged kids in many poor areas of towns & cities around the world........so FIFA World Cup as a phenomenon has a global effect like no other....in its reach, in its cultural diversity & in its positive unifying influence.
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