As part of a recently announced $1bn prize pot, football’s governing body offers largest winner’s cheque for FIFA tournament.
The winners of FIFA’s first 32-team Club World Cup in the United States could earn a football record $125m as details of a $1bn prize money fund were finally published.
FIFA said it allocated $525m in guaranteed fees for teams taking part in the June 14 to July 13 tournament, ranging from $38.19m to the top-ranked European team – likely Real Madrid – to $3.58m for the Oceania representative Auckland City.
A further $475m is to be earned by results in the 63 games, with $2m paid for winning group stage games, $7.5m for playing in the round of 16 and $40m to the team that wins the final at MetLife Stadium near New York.
The golden trophy has been sitting in the Oval Office at the White House this month after FIFA President Gianni Infantino delivered it to President Donald Trump.
The prize fund was delayed until a global broadcast deal was belatedly agreed in December with streaming service DAZN, which then got a major investment from a state-backed sports agency in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia was also confirmed in December by FIFA as host of the men’s 2034 World Cup.
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Each of the 12 European teams in the Club World Cup lineup will be paid at least $12.81m as an entry fee. Payments will be decided by “a ranking based on sporting and commercial criteria”, FIFA said without providing details.
Manchester City, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea also qualified by either winning a Champions League title from 2021 to 2024 or having consistent results in the competition over those four seasons.
Countries were capped at two entries unless they had three Champions League winners. Salzburg of Austria qualified as the final European team, despite never advancing beyond the round of 16, because higher-ranked clubs like Liverpool and Barcelona were blocked by the country cap.
The six South American teams each will get a $15.21m entry fee.
Teams from Africa, Asia and the CONCACAF region of North America — including Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami, despite not winning the MLS Cup title last season — each will get $9.55m for playing.
Leon of Mexico is currently contesting its removal from the competition by FIFA because it is in shared ownership with Pachuca, which also qualified.
FIFA aims to pay $250m to clubs worldwide who did not qualify for the tournament. It is unclear how many clubs will be paid, or how much they will get.
The overall prize pool for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar amounted to $440m.