The FIFA Council has approved a record prize fund of $655million to be given out at the men’s World Cup in 2026 — a 50 per cent increase from the 2022 tournament in Qatar.
The winners of the competition will receive $50m, up from $42m last time around and the runners-up will receive $33m. Third place will take $29m, fourth place will receive $27m, while beaten quarter-finalists will each receive $19m. Those who exit at the round of 16 will receive $15m and those who depart at the round of 32 will be gifted $11m.
Nations who fail to progress from the group stages will receive $9m, while each qualified World Cup team will receive a further $1.5m each in preparation costs, meaning that every nation in the tournament will be guaranteed at least $10.5m.
“The FIFA World Cup 2026 will also be groundbreaking in terms of its financial contribution to the global football community,” said FIFA president Gianni Infantino, in a news release issued by the sport’s governing body.
FIFA has previously projected $13bn of revenue during the four-year cycle leading through next year’s tournament, the bulk of which will be made from the men’s World Cup, and it is a huge rise from the $7.6bn revenue for the cycle leading up to Qatar 2022.
FIFA’s increased prize money for competing federations comes on the back of sky-high prices being released for the vast majority of tickets at the World Cup. Ticket prices released by FIFA last week for the tournament in 2026 were, on average, 174 per cent higher than projected in the official bid book submitted by the joint proposal from the United States, Canada and Mexico to soccer’s world governing body back in 2018.
FIFA’s average price across the three categories initially set out for the opening games (i.e. the three opening matches of the tournament for hosts Canada, Mexico and the United States) was $1,728, compared to the projected average of $569 across the three categories in the bid book. This represents an increase of 204 per cent for those seeking to watch the USMNT play Paraguay, Mexico play South Africa, or Canada play the winner of a UEFA playoff between Wales, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Italy, or Northern Ireland.
An even more dramatic increase is present in the average price across the three categories for the World Cup final, which will take place at MetLife Stadium in New York New Jersey on July 19. While the bid book projected an average price of $1,099 across the three categories, FIFA has increased this by 459 per cent, with their average at $6147.
For the semi-finals, the increase is 197 per cent, up from $733 in the bid book to $2174 in FIFA’s released pricing. In the quarter-final, the leap is 153 per cent, increasing to $1044 in FIFA’s pricing across the three categories from an average of $412 in the bid book. The rises in the group stage, round of 32 and round of 16 are more modest, but still substantial, with increases of 49 per cent, 61 per cent and 94 per cent respectively.
Following a major fan and media backlash, as well as complaints from a number of federations, FIFA has introduced a reduced price bracket for a very small number of fans, with 1.6 per cent of tickets per game to be sold at $60, returning a category four price bracket.
