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The World Cup winner earns $51 million. The second prize is $34 million.
FIFA expanded the payout for the 2026 World Cup, setting a record with a combined $871 million paid to the 48 participating teams. That tally includes more than $100 million that was added in April after some federations in Europe lobbied for help to cover costs at a tournament across three countries that has required extensive travel and lodging costs.
The $51 million for either Argentina or Spain is a large sum, but it also pales in comparison to the fortunes that are spent on global soccer. It’s also smaller than what last year’s Club World Cup winner earned in a tournament also played in the U.S.
For perspective, the $51 million for the winner is less than the transfer fee paid Tuesday by English club Brighton for a 19-year-old defender who spent most of the World Cup on the bench, Croatia’s Luka Vušković.
Here’s what to know about the World Cup prize money:
All teams get paid
All 48 get at least $12.5 million for competing in the World Cup, including $10 million in prize money for qualifying and playing in the group stage. Each receives $2.5 million for pre-tournament training and expenses. That upfront money was agreed at past World Cups to help avoid pre-tournament tensions when it wasn’t uncommon for players to claim that bonuses had not been paid by their federation.
The prize money goes up depending on how far the teams advance.
Higher amounts come after federation demands
Some federations, especially from Europe, had told FIFA that the prize money structure and payments for preparation costs set last year would leave them losing money on the tournament unless their teams went deep into the knockout rounds.
French federation president Philippe Diallo told sports daily L’Equipe that, for several months, he had drawn FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s attention to World Cup teams not being properly rewarded, compared with what Club World Cup winner Chelsea received one year ago. That was $115 million, after FIFA had to promise a nine-figure reward that persuaded storied European clubs to play in the revamped competition.
World Cup teams playing games in the United States also faced some tax obligations that are exempted in Canada and Mexico.
World Cup champion gets the big bucks
The eventual champion receives $51 million, compared to $42 million for Argentina’s federation for winning the 2022 tournament in Qatar. That 32-team edition had a total prize fund of $440 million.
Here is what the others are getting:
Runner-up: $34 million
Third place (England): $30 million
Fourth place (France): $28 million
Quarterfinalists (fifth to eighth): $20 million each
Round of 16 (ninth to 16th): $16 million each
Round of 32 (17th to 32nd): $12 million each
Group stage (33rd to 48th): $10 million each
Flights and hotels are covered
In addition to the payout sums and under World Cup regulations, FIFA is already obliged to pay for business‑class return flights for each federation to travel to the tournament plus board and lodging for a 50-person delegation, which includes the players. The hotel payments start five nights before a team’s first game and one night after it is eliminated.
FIFA also covers the cost of domestic travel for up to 50 delegation members, and “a dedicated fleet of vehicles, including an equipment truck.”
The soccer federations of World Cup teams must pay for “adequate insurance … including but not limited to injury, accident, disease and travel,” plus “incidental hotel costs” and housing additional members of a delegation.
The World Cup trophy
The greatest honor, of course, is the World Cup trophy.
A general view as a drone show takes place over the New York Harbor, displaying a graphic of the FIFA World Cup trophy, in front of the Lower Manhattan skyline at Liberty State Park on July 17, 2026, in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Maja Hitij – Fifa | Fifa | Getty Images
On Sunday, the champions will celebrate with it after the final whistle during an award ceremony. The original trophy is not awarded permanently. Instead, the winners will receive a gold-plated replica, which they can keep.
As for World Cup prize money, that’s paid by FIFA to the federations — not the players. It’s up to each federation’s rules how they handle the money.
For example: U.S. soccer will get to keep 20% of the prize money. The remaining 80% that the U.S. men’s national soccer team receives will be split evenly between the men’s and women’s national teams following a 2022 milestone agreement to pay its men’s and women’s teams equally, making the American national governing body the first in the sport to promise both sexes matching money.
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