FIFA reported a 184 million U.S. dollars profit in 2008, 13 percent under its own budget, the soccer's world governing body said in Nassau, Bahamas on Wednesday.
FIFA collected 957 million in revenue, mostly off additional television and marketing deals struck for the 2010 World Cup and 773 million in expenses. They avoided what deputy secretary general Markus Kattner called "extraordinary legal costs" such as the 90 million payout that credit card giant MasterCard was owed the previous year in a settlement regarding sponsorship of the 2010 and 2014 World Cups.
FIFA currently lists about 1.6 billion in assets.
Later Wednesday, members of FIFA's Congress overwhelmingly approved the organization's 2010 budget, which includes about 1.1 billion in expenses, more than half related to operational costs for the World Cup in South Africa.
(Xinhua News Agency June 4, 2009)
