World Cup 2026: Why is Fifa giving clubs $355m during the tournament?

Fifa has pledged to pay clubs $355m (£265m) for releasing players to take part in the 2026 World Cup – and for allowing them to play in qualifying matches.

Clubs who have players competing at this summer’s tournament across the United States, Mexico and Canada have the potential to collect millions during the tournament as a result.

That is because of the Fifa Club Benefit Programme, designed to compensate clubs whose players are away with their national teams for weeks on end.

For the first time, Fifa is also compensating clubs whose players contested the World Cup qualifiers.

Payments have been made to clubs for releasing players to feature at the World Cup since the 2010 tournament. The 2022 World Cup led to payments of $209m (£156m on current exchange rate), split between 440 clubs from 51 different nations.

Payments are made on a per player, per day basis. Essentially, the more players that a club has at a tournament and the longer they are there, the more money their clubs receive.

Of the $355m total club compensation pot, $250m (£187m) is dedicated to the tournament itself.

Another $100m (£75m) is for the qualifying round matches, while the remaining $5m (£3.75m) will be allocated to the benefit of club football based on an agreement between Fifa and European Football Clubs (EFC) after the deduction of administrative costs related to the implementation of the programme.

From the day of release to attend the tournament, players earn clubs a fee of $5,000 (£3,730) per day until the day after their team’s final match of the tournament.

For qualifying round matches, players earned their club $2,362 (£1,765) for every qualifying match when they were in a matchday squad.

The mid-tournament day rate has reduced by more than half of the day rate at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. However, this year’s tournament is significantly longer and features 16 more teams, rising from 32 to 48 national sides.

For the 2022 World Cup, a total of $209m (£155.6m) was given to clubs by Fifa. This worked out at a rate of $10,950 (£8,150) per player per day.

The programme first launched for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa following an agreement between Fifa and the European Club Association.

The shortest amount of time a team can be in the tournament is 14 days. That marks the time from the start of the tournament to the end of the group stage for Group A nations.

Fifa’s mandatory date for clubs to release players was 25 May, and the day after their nation’s final match will also be counted, meaning the minimum for the tournament a player can earn for their club is $160,000 (£119,500).

Should a team reach the final, that would consist of 57 days’ participation, including the day after the tournament. For those players, that would mean a payment to their club of $285,000 (£212,900).