The winner of the 2026 World Cup will receive a record jackpot of US$50 million (NZ$86.5 million), FIFA said.
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.
World football’s 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.
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.
The Club World Cup, also staged in the US, was won by Chelsea.
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.
Beyond prize money, further funds are put toward 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”.
World football's governing body approved the prize money for every stage of the World Cup at a meeting of its council in Doha.
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.
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 “preparation costs”.
FIFA said, in all, US$727 million (NZ$1.25 billion) would be distributed to the 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 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.
All New Zealand games at the FIFA World Cup will be available to watch live and free from home on TVNZ+ and TVNZ1.
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