And given that financial consultants working with FIFA have estimated the annual value of the club game worldwide to be somewhere between US $40 and US $45 billion, that is equivalent to a third of its value.
The figure of US 14 billion may even be a conservative estimate,
That is based on the current scenario where the game is slowly returning in most countries after a three-month cessation. If there is no alleviation of the pandemic, then the situation could get a whole lot worse.
Football in South America has been particularly hard hit, but FIFA are also concerned about the state of the game in Africa and Asia, areas where a lot o work has been done on the development of the game. There are fears that a lot of that work has now been undermined by the effects of the coronavirus outbreak.
To help mitigate some of the financial consequences of the pandemic, FIFA has created a US $1.5 billion relief funds, and reports that so far, 150 of its 211 members associations have applied to them for payment.
However, if the pandemic continues for a prolonged period of time, the financial position of many clubs, leagues and football associations will come under sustained pressure.
By way of illustration, on Wednesday, the High Court in England ordered Macclesfield Town, who were a league club as recently as last season, to be wound-up, ending 145 years of history. The presiding judge decided that they had no realistic chance of clearing their debts of over 500,000.
Another club, Southend United, have been given what amounts to a stay of execution they have six weeks to come to an arrangement with their creditors.
This is likely to be the thin end of the wedge, not just in England, but across the world. There is a real threat that clubs that have been bedrocks of local communities for decades, could be forced to close their doors because of their debts.
They may become yet more victims of the global pandemic.