The world football ruling body FIFA said it expected a big income rise in television rights for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa, it was reported by Handelsblatt Economics Daily on Thursday.

The report said the 2010 rights are expected to generate at least 1.2 billion euros, up from around 1 billion for the 2006 World Cup finals in Germany.

A FIFA spokesman told Handelsblatt the federation expected "a substantial increase". FIFA president Joseph Blatter spoke of a "win-win situation" in which FIFA and the rights holders, by selling them on to TV networks, would make a profit.

Source: Xinhua