How Does Not Go to the Qatar 2022 World Cup Affect a Country’s Trade?

The 2022 Qatar World Cup is getting closer and, at least in South America, the teams that will represent the south of the American continent in the most important soccer event on the planet are already known. Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Ecuador already have their quota for the World Cup. Now only the quota that Peru will define against an Asian team is missing.

However, in football, while some enjoy it, others cry. This is the case of Colombia and Chile, teams that reached the last date with the slightest hope of being able to get Peru out of the play-off zone and thus prolong the dream of playing in a World Cup again.

The teams led by Reinaldo Rueda (Colombia) and Martín Lasarte (Chile) did not show their best face in these qualifiers, especially in the last leg of the competition. Therefore, they will pay dearly for their mistakes, seeing how four of their sister teams will travel to Qatari territory dreaming of winning the most coveted cup by any national team in the world, while they will have to watch the tournament on television.

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Large Economic Losses

Now, amid the disappointment of not qualifying, not only is the opportunity of not playing the most important event in football lost, but also great economic losses are generated, both in the Colombian selection of the non-classified teams and in businesses in their respective countries.

In the case of Colombia, the Federation of Merchants (Fenalco in Spanish) verified that trade in the country would no longer see profits of more than half a billion pesos, a little more than 133 million dollars.

“The elimination of the Colombian team will severely affect the sales of companies linked to gastronomy, bars, fast foods, homes, t-shirts, and other clothing items, souvenirs, travel agencies, airlines, beer, spirits, and soft drinks in general, subscription TV. , televisions and something very emotional in the Colombian, the Panini album”, highlighted the president of Fenalco, Jaime Alberto Cabal.

At that point, Brany Pardo, president in charge of the Association of the Gastronomic Industry, assured that the restaurant and bar sector would be "being affected by some 350 billion pesos (93 million dollars) in those sales that will not be able to generate because there would not be the same level of convocation and influx”.

Finally, Fenalco indicated that a survey carried out in 2018 revealed that more than 67% of consumers purchased the Colombia national team T-shirt, both in the formal and informal markets; Therefore, this situation not only affects the big brands, but also the small merchants who had their hopes pinned on Qatar 2022 to reactivate an economy that has been diminished since 2020 due to the crisis generated by the pandemic.

However, just as some lose others, such as Argentina, who will have the opportunity to participate in the World Cup, they hope to improve the commercial figures around this soccer festival. Although there are still no updated figures of what is expected to be the profits obtained in the country in the south of the continent, the truth is that many experts have decided to be guided by what was seen four years ago, when the record sales of the "Albiceleste shirts" It was fired days before the start of the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

According to Netshoes, a site specialized in e-commerce (electronic commerce) between March and May 2018, the sale of Argentine national team shirts increased by 396.9% compared to what was seen in 2017. Of course, as El Cronista explained, the sale was not only reflected on the internet but also on the streets, so Qatar 2022 is expected to benefit not only large companies but also SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) that sell the products related to this National team.

In the specific case of the national teams, the losses, which were recorded in dollars, are in the millions. According to special figures provided by the International Federation of Football Association (FIFA), a general budget of 1,696 million dollars has been stipulated for this year's World Cup.

Of this money, 30% (almost 509 million dollars) will be used for the prizes that the teams will receive throughout the tournament. However, 2.3% of this value will be the base given to each qualified team. So each of the 32 teams that step on Qatari soil to play the World Cup will take 11.7 million dollars, in case they are eliminated in the group stage.

This sum represents 17% more than what was awarded in Russia 2018 when the teams that ranged from 17th to 32nd place took $ 10 million.

But we also have to talk about what the teams lost that, as in the case of Colombia, reached instances beyond the group stage in the last World Cup, and that unfortunately will not return to this year's World Cup event.

Four years ago, the coffee team qualified for the round of 16, where they were defeated on penalties against England. This elimination earned him another four million dollars, so the Colombian Football Federation (FCF) returned to Russia with a total prize of 14 million dollars. Of course, if they have qualified and passed the round, this prize would be higher this year, although FIFA has not revealed in detail how these prizes will be disbursed.