Just as the World Cup kicks off, it’s sobering to think that the World’s biggest sporting event requires a huge amount of insurance cover. Everything from natural disasters and terrorism to player injuries and household damage, there are a huge amount of eventualities must be insured for, which means that there is a multi billion pound risk industry that surrounds the World Cup.
Here are some example World Cup Risk Factors:
FIFA alone has purchased $650 million in insurance for total cancellation of the World Cup 2010
22% have seen friends or family spill food or drink while watching sport on TV – Indian food caused the worst stains, leading insurers to urge football fans not to get “curried away”
A footballer at the peak of his career who is playing for one of their nation’s top leagues, could be covered by approximately £50 million worth of insurance
David Beckham has taken out the biggest personal insurance policy in sporting history at £100 million
In 2006, Paul Hucker from Ipswich took out insurance against ‘football trauma’ so that he would be compensated with £1m in damages if England were knocked out early of the World Cup
Watch this video to learn more fascinating facts about the World Cup insurance industry.
David Beckham is still the highest earning football player across the globe for the third year in a row, according to the annual feature in Forbes magazine. In 2009 the 35 year old football player earned £40m out of which 80% came from his sponsors, who include Giorgio Armani, Adidas, and Motorola. Beckham unfortunately is predicted to lose some of his larger sponsorship money this year due to the fact that he tore his archilles tendon in March, which will force him to sit out the South African World Cup. Second on the Forbes list was Christiano Ronaldo who earned £30m in the past year. Credits to his name include the 2008 World Player of the Year and the title of the highest salary paid football player in the world when Real Madrid purchased him from Manchester United. His contract is for six years and started at about £15.5m but will increase by a quarter every year after. Sponsors of Ronaldo include Coca-Cola, Giorgio Armani, and Nike. In third place on the list of top earners is Kaka also a Madrid player who earns £25m per year. His sponsors are also Giorgio Armani and Adidas. Fourth place is Ronaldinho who also earns £25m per year and in fifth place is the Barcelona striker from France Thierry Henry who earns about £24m per year. Last year Beckham was estimated by Forbes to have earned £46m while Ronaldinho was estimated to make £33m in second place and Henry was in third place with £28m.
David Beckham is known for his great figure whenever he slides into a nice pair of keks, but it is about to get more personal as he will soon design his own clothing line and even model the entire range himself.