The winner of the 2026 World Cup will receive a record jackpot of US$50 million (NZ$86.5 million), FIFA said.<\/p>\n
That figure is up from $42 million (NZ$73m) in 2022 and $38 million (NZ$66m) in 2018. But it is still less than half of what was on offer at the much less-hyped Club World Cup earlier this year.<\/p>\n
World football\u2019s governing body said the total prize fund for the World Cup, staged in the United States, Canada and Mexico, was US$655 million (NZ$1.1 billion) – a 50% increase on the previous edition in Qatar.<\/p>\n
By comparison, the Club World Cup, which was controversially expanded from seven teams to 32 and shoehorned into the football calendar, had a total prize fund of US$1 billion (NZ$1.7 billion). The top prize for the winning team was worth up to US$125 million (NZ$216.4 million) for a tournament that faced fierce resistance from players and leagues and drew sparse crowds for some matches.<\/p>\n
The Club World Cup, also staged in the US, was won by Chelsea.<\/p>\n
FIFA has a different distribution model for the two tournaments, with the disparity in prize money reflecting factors such as clubs overseeing much higher costs through wages than national teams.<\/p>\n
Beyond prize money, further funds are put toward the development of football globally.<\/p>\n
FIFA president Gianni Infantino said the World Cup would be \u201cgroundbreaking in terms of its financial contribution to the global football community\u201d.<\/p>\n
World football’s governing body approved the prize money for every stage of the World Cup at a meeting of its council in Doha.<\/p>\n
The runner-up will receive US$33 million (NZ$57 million), with US$29 million (NZ$50 million) and US$27 million (NZ$46 million) going to the third and fourth place teams, respectively.<\/p>\n
The lowest prize money will be US$9 million (NZ$15.5 million) and all 48 participating nations will get US$1.5 million (NZ$2.5 million) to cover what FIFA describes as \u201cpreparation costs\u201d.<\/p>\n
FIFA said, in all, US$727 million (NZ$1.25 billion) would be distributed to the federations participating.<\/p>\n
It is not known how each nation will distribute the money, but at the last World Cup, French sports daily L\u2019Equipe reported France players were in line for a bonus of US$586,000 (NZ$1 million) by their federation if they won the trophy. France was ultimately beaten by Argentina in the final.<\/p>\n