FIFA World Cup 2026 winners’ prize money doubles to $50m
The winner of the FIFA World Cup 2026 will get record $50m jackpot – still less than half offered at Club World Cup.
Published On 17 Dec 202517 Dec 2025
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The winner of the FIFA World Cup 2026 will receive a record jackpot of $50m, football’s global governing body says.
That figure is up from $42m in 2022 and $38m in 2018. But it is still less than half of what was on offer at the much less hyped FIFA Club World Cup earlier this year.
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FIFA said the total prize fund for next year’s World Cup – to be staged in the United States, Canada and Mexico – is $655m, a 50 percent increase on the previous edition in Qatar.
By comparison, the FIFA Club World Cup, which was controversially expanded from seven teams to 32 and shoehorned into the football calendar, had a total prize fund of $1bn. The prize for the winning team was worth up to $125m for a tournament that faced fierce resistance from players and leagues and drew sparse crowds for some matches.
The Club World Cup, also staged in the US, was won by Chelsea.
FIFA has a different distribution model for the two tournaments. The disparity in prize money reflects factors such as clubs overseeing much higher costs through wages than national teams.
Beyond the prize money, further funds are put towards the development of football globally.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino said the World Cup would be “groundbreaking in terms of its financial contribution to the global football community”.
FIFA approved the prize money for every stage of the World Cup at a meeting of its council in Doha.
The runner-up will receive $33m with $29m and $27m going to the third- and fourth-placed teams, respectively.
The lowest prize money will be $9m and all 48 participating nations will get $1.5m to cover what FIFA described as “preparation costs”.
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FIFA said, in all, $727m would be distributed to the football federations participating.
It is not known how each nation will distribute the money, but at the last World Cup, French sports daily L’Equipe reported France’s players were in line for a bonus of $586,000 by their federation if they won the trophy. France was ultimately beaten by Argentina in the final.