World Cup prize money is one of the issues that fans are most interested in every time a tournament is about to start. The 2026 World Cup taking place in the US, Canada and Mexico is the first version to expand from 32 to 48 participating teams.
The increase in tournament scale is also proportional to the prize money that teams receive. From December 2025, the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) has approved a total spending of 727 million USD to allocate to teams participating in the 2026 World Cup.
Accordingly, each member football federation with a team participating in the 2026 World Cup will receive 1.5 million USD as preparation costs for the tournament. The official prize fund of the tournament has a total of 655 million USD, an increase of 50% compared to the 2022 World Cup, which will continue to be allocated to the teams.
In which, the champion team received 50 million USD, 8 million USD more than the amount that Argentina earned after winning the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
The runner-up team receives 33 million USD, the 3rd-place team receives 29 million USD, the 4th-place team receives 27 million USD. Teams from 5th to 8th place receive 19 million USD/team. Teams from 9th to 16th place receive 15 million USD/team. Teams from 17th to 32nd place receive 11 million USD/team. Teams eliminated in the group stage, even if they do not win any match, will receive 9 million USD/team.
Since FIFA began to publicly announce the prize money awarded, the amount for champion teams has increased from 2.2 million USD for the Italian team at the 1982 World Cup to 50 million USD for the team that lifts the trophy at MetLife Stadium (USA) on July 19.
FIFA also confirmed that clubs will receive financial support when allowing players to participate in the tournament. For the 2026 World Cup, 355 million USD will be allocated to clubs with summoned players, a significant increase compared to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
At the previous World Cup, clubs from many leagues and countries around the globe received money based on the number of days their players played for the national team. With a larger league and more participating countries, these figures are expected to increase significantly in 2026.
