JOHANNESBURG, (Reuters) – FIFA made a profit of $196  million in 2009 and has equity of over $1 billion thanks mainly  to massive and still growing income from the sale of TV rights,  soccer’s governing body said yesterday.

Television ($650 million) and marketing ($277 million)  rights sales brought in the vast majority of revenue of $1,022  million in 2009, FIFA’s financial report showed.

Presenting the report to Congress on the eve of the opening  match of the World Cup in South Africa, FIFA said it now had a  “solid” equity basis of $1,061 million.

“While equity of over a billion dollars seems high, it is  necessary as the financial risks exceed it many times over,”  Franco Carraro, chairman of the internal audit committee, told  delegates. “The figure is only enough to cover the next year and  a half.”

FIFA said successful risk management in recent years had  helped it avoid the worst effects of the global financial  crisis.