GENEVA — Players at the 2026 World Cup will earn their professional clubs close to $5,000 per day from a $355 million FIFA fund.
FIFA, the global governing body for soccer, gave details Friday on how it will allocate the clubs’ share of revenue for those with players who are among the 1,248 picked for the 48-team tournament in North America and — for the first time — also those called up for the 905 qualifying games.
According to a FIFA release, players involved in the qualifying program earned $2,360 per game for the clubs they were registered with during that period.
Thousands of clubs worldwide should get some money because 209 of 211 national men’s soccer teams played such games. Russia, which is suspended from international competitions, and Eritrea, which has a history of withdrawing from qualifying for major tournaments after multiple player defections while abroad in the past, did not take part.
Manchester City of England’s Premier League had 19 players picked for this World Cup, the most provided by any club. It also got the biggest share from the FIFA payment program at the past two editions of the World Cup — $4.6 million from 2022 in Qatar and $5 million from 2018 in Russia — from a fund that was $209 million for each tournament, when the field was still 32 teams.