FIFA's $355m World Cup fund to pay clubs $5,000 per player per day in North America

FIFA will pay clubs approximately $5,000 per day for each player selected for the 2026 World Cup in North America, drawn from a $355 million compensation fund — the largest the governing body has ever allocated for a single tournament.

The fund, agreed in 2023, sets aside $250 million to reward clubs for players who feature in the finals and a further $100 million for clubs whose players took part in qualifying. In a first for the competition, clubs are also entitled to compensation for the 905 qualifying matches played across 209 national teams, with FIFA confirming a rate of $2,360 per qualifying game.

Manchester City lead all clubs with 19 players selected for the 48-team tournament, continuing a run of top-end returns from FIFA’s payment programme. The club received the largest single share from equivalent funds at both the 2022 Qatar World Cup and the 2018 Russia edition — $4.6 million and $5 million respectively from a $209 million pool for each of those tournaments.

Bayern Munich follow City with 18 players, while Champions League finalists Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal each contribute 16. Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal are the best-represented club outside Europe with 12 players — a figure matched by Crystal Palace, the reigning Conference League champions, who surpass both Liverpool (11) and Real Madrid (10) in the squad count.

The scale of this cycle’s fund reflects how significantly FIFA’s club compensation scheme has grown since it was introduced ahead of the 2010 South Africa tournament, when the initial pool stood at just $40 million. That figure doubled to $70 million for Brazil 2014 before rising steadily through subsequent editions. The scheme itself emerged from 2008 negotiations that led to the formal recognition of the European Club Association.

With 1,248 players selected across 48 squads and thousands more having featured in qualifying, the payments are expected to reach clubs in virtually every corner of world football — only Eritrea and suspended Russia did not participate in the qualifying programme.