Announcement comes amid ongoing criticism of ticket pricing for the tournament
Fifa has confirmed a record payout to countries for the 2026 World Cup, with the winners set to receive $50m.
Following a meeting of the Fifa Council in Doha, the organisation announced that a total of $727m will be shared among its 48 member associations competing at next year’s World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
Of that figure, $655m will be paid out as performance-based prize money, alongside additional funds to support teams’ preparation. The $655m is a 50% increase on the $440m paid in the 2022 edition in Qatar.
With the new prize kitty, each team is guaranteed to get a payout of at least $10.5m. Every nation that qualifies will receive $1.5m in preparation funding, and nations eliminated in the early stages of the competition will earn $9m. The winners will receive $50m, up from the $42m Argentina received in 2022, while the runners-up will take home $33m.
The announcement comes amid ongoing criticism of ticket pricing for the tournament. Supporters across multiple countries raised concerns last week after Fifa released initial prices, prompting the organisation to introduce a limited number of discounted tickets. Fifa confirmed that tickets priced at $60 will be made available through national associations’ supporter allocations, though only around 10 per cent of those tickets will be sold at that level.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino praised the development and said the 2026 World Cup would be “groundbreaking” in its “financial contribution to the global football community”.
