Ian Mallon: Limerick's Prince of Wales unpacking a $9m World Cup bonus
LEADING THE WAY: Noel Mooney, Chief Executive Officer, Football Association of Wales.
IN THE early hours of yesterday morning, a former Cork City, Limerick FC and Shamrock Rovers goalkeeper led an 80-strong Welsh delegation - including Gareth Bale and Aaron Ramsey - into Qatar for Fifa World Cup 2022.
After disembarking from the specially-commissioned Qatar Airways flight from Cardiff, the group were escorted by police motorcade to the Marriott Hotel on Doha’s splendid Corniche coast.
Along with the 26 players, coaches, physios, S&C, backroom staff, two additional players for training purposes, media officers, marketing executives, security personnel, chefs and operations crew - there were a number of revealing ambassadors.
Included in the travelling party and under the overall leadership of Limerick man Noel Mooney, the FAW included Welsh women’s football’s star player and leading LGBTQ+ ambassador, Jess Fishlock, and its Women’s team coach Gemma Grainger.
Fishlock and Grainger will be part of the official party for as long as Wales stay in the tournament which they will hope will extend beyond the team’s November 29 final group game v England, and the riches that will bring.
Wales along with all 32 National Associations have already banked $9m for just being in Qatar – with extra matches set to come in at approximately $4m for a first knock-out game, and rising further.
From the initial $9m, a significant amount will be reinvested back into grassroots football - but before that, there is the matter of players' bonuses and overall living costs for the Welsh contingent in Doha.
Wales – like all qualifying teams – will award one-third of that cash payment to the Players bonus fund - $3m – with that number rising on a scale of additional prize money as and if the team progresses.
The other significant investment, which could go as high as $4m – depending on the length of stay – will go towards the running of ‘Camp Cymru’, including hotel, training facilities and the construction and running of the media centre – a cost which is soaked up by each participating nation.
The remainder of Wales’ World Cup pot - $2-3m - will be reinvested in those grassroots projects immediately identified by Mooney once Wales qualified back in June.
Wales has already earmarked investment for the high-performance centre at The Vale in Pontyclun from additional payments, assuming the team finishes in the top two of the group, which also features the USA and Iran.
Away from the money side, a key crisis strategy has been drawn up and overseen by Mooney and his team to cater for the 3,000-strong ‘Red Wall’, who are in Qatar for the tournament.
The safety of supporters and the ongoing monitoring of Qatar’s homophobic authorities and their treatment of LGBTQ+ fans is key, with Gareth Bale one of a number of captains who will wear the Rainbow Captain’s Armband – France’s Hugo Lloris has indicated he will not.
Mooney effectively guaranteed the safety of Welsh supporters in Qatar, during an appearance on BBC Newsnight last week, where the English FA were noticeable absentees from the programme.
Other key crisis management strategies have been put in place to look after fans who may fall foul of authorities due to over-exuberance with alcohol.
Health and safety of all Welsh supporters aside, Mooney told The Pitch that his ultimate ambition is for Wales to continue its surge as one of the world’s leading football nations – it currently sits inside the top 20.
“Our goal for the World Cup is to create a legacy and to inspire the next generation of players, to connect with the world and to put Wales out there as a major football nation alongside the leading countries in the world,” he said.
Mooney is still only 15 months in the job, an appointment which was made after an initial approach by the FAW at Euro 2020 in London, where Mooney was working as Uefa’s Head of Strategy.
He began his role in September of 2021, immediately moving his young family – wife Kertu and son Sean – to the Pontcanna area of Cardiff from Geneva.
He has immersed himself in Welsh tradition, spearheading the push to have Wales officially named as ‘Cymru’, while he himself is learning the language and will present for interviews next year speaking Welsh fluently.
He has grown close ties with the devolved government, co-leading a recent opening of a Welsh consulate in Dublin, to balance the damage caused by Brexit to Welsh business with Ireland.
Certainly Mooney has been a lucky general on the pitch, but it’s the moves off it that are creating most interest around Limerick’s new Prince of Wales.
UP TO a third of a billion euro will be staked on the World Cup across Ireland and the UK over the course of the competition.
Flutter Ent. – the owners of Paddy Power, Sky Bet and Betfair – is expecting up to €100m staked here and in Britain, with the majority of outright bets going on England to win the tournament.
While most of those bets will come from UK investors, such an outcome would represent a financial catastrophe for gambling giants with payments costing up to €2 billion for all betting firms – England are 8/1.
Such an outcome would pale into insignificance in the States where the majority of investments will be made on a most unlikely USA tournament win - such a long shot even still offers huge exposure to the US market.
Flutter’s FanDuel operation in America will be sweating on odds of 100/1 of such an outcome – however far-fetched – one which would present the greatest liability in betting history.
Deregulated betting markets across the majority of American states will see the largest ever amounts of cash invested in soccer for the tournament, with most of that money going on the ‘home team’.
While it’s not yet clear how much Americans will stake on the World Cup – it’s not expected to beat the March Madness investments in the annual spring college basketball bonanza – which this year saw a record $3 billion spent in legal betting.
Another danger for US markets is the success of Argentina who have seen heavy investment by punters allowing heads to rule over hearts – bets on Argentina are one third of what has been spent on the USA in American markets.
On this side of the world, up to 1,000 bets on the USA have been invested by punters in the weeks leading up to the World Cup, but the greatest danger to the UK and Irish market is England winning the tournament outright.
For Flutter the greatest risk of this happening will come through its Sky Bet and Paddy Power brands, while internationally its Betfair International products are wary of a Spain win.
The ideal scenario for UK-based betting risk assessors will be outright bets on England to win the tournament, and additional ‘live betting’ on the side as the competition progresses, with England ultimately losing the final.
However if Harry Kane, Lionel Messi or, heaven-forbid, Christian Pulisic lift the Fifa World Cup Trophy aloft on December 18 it will be a blue Christmas for bookies.
5 BILLION – expected television audience for Qatar World Cup
€3.5B – TV income generated globally for Fifa from World Cup
$9 MILLON – prize money for each of the 32 teams qualifying for World Cup
11.5k km2 – Qatar is roughly the size of Cork and Kerry, combined
6,500 – the estimated number of migrant workers who have died in Qatar
$42M – the amount in prize money for the overall winners
