How do National teams work in terms of funding? (International football and fixture congestion)

[JSArsenal]

I used to be of the opinion that you could just cancel most of the friendlies, reduce the number of qualifiers and nothing much would change. However, seeing a few canceled because of Covid and hearing the English FA (I think it was them) talk about how hard those cancellations hit and how the game against the Republic of Ireland needed to happen for financial reasons, I realise it might not be that simple.

The FA is a private organisation and I assume that the funds for the national team come from selling tickets to the games and tv fees. If that's the case then are we forever stuck in a cycle of too many international breaks because each FA needs the money in order to run the national team?

 

[Chipper]

Selling tickets and tv fees like you mentioned, plus a lot of the same things clubs can do.

Sponsorships - "official partners of the England national football team" etc.
Kit deals
Prize money from World Cups/Euros
Apperance fees from away friendlies


As the orgainsers of the FA Cup they'll be bringing in the money from that as well, but then there are also outgoings for that plus outgoings for football development/community projects and that kind of stuff. Got to run all the other teams too at different age groups for men and women.Perhaps senior teams for both are self-sufficient but I don't imagine the U21, U18 etc would be.

Probably quite a few other ins and outs that haven't occurred to me right now.