World Cup prize money
FIFA pays £546.6m to the 48 teams at the 2026 World Cup, and £1,127,820 of it goes to every one of them before a ball is kicked. The rest is settled by how far a team gets: £37,593,985 for winning it, £6,766,917 for going out in the group stage. The whole distribution was raised to £654.9m after those bands were set.
A team is paid once, for where it finished. The band is the whole of it rather than a step on the way to it, so a team beaten in the quarter-finals collects £14,285,714 and not that plus every band below it.
What each finishing place pays
The eight bands the 48 teams are divided into
| FINISHING PLACE | TEAMS | EACH | THE BAND |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winning it | 1 | £37,593,985£37.6m | £37,593,985£37.6m |
| Runners-up | 1 | £24,812,030£24.8m | £24,812,030£24.8m |
| Third | 1 | £21,804,511£21.8m | £21,804,511£21.8m |
| Fourth | 1 | £20,300,752£20.3m | £20,300,752£20.3m |
| 5th to 8th | 4 | £14,285,714£14.3m | £57,142,856£57.1m |
| 9th to 16th | 8 | £11,278,195£11.3m | £90,225,560£90.2m |
| 17th to 32nd | 16 | £8,270,677£8.3m | £132,330,832£132.3m |
| 33rd to 48th | 16 | £6,766,917£6.8m | £108,270,672£108.3m |
| Played for on the pitch | 48 | - | £492,481,198£492.5m |
What each band pays out between its teams
How far each band got
Winning it pays 5.6 times what the bottom band pays. Inside a band nothing separates one team from another: the 16 teams going out in the group stage are paid the same £6,766,917 whether they lost all three group matches or missed out on goal difference. It is also why the largest single line in the table is not the champions. The 16 teams in the 17th to 32nd band take £132,330,832 between them, more than the four teams that reached the semi-finals take between them at £104,511,278.
Who collected it
Where all 48 teams finished
| # | TEAM | BAND | PAID |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spain | Winning it | £37,593,985£37.6m |
| 2 | Argentina | Runners-up | £24,812,030£24.8m |
| 3 | England | Third | £21,804,511£21.8m |
| 4 | France | Fourth | £20,300,752£20.3m |
| 5 | Norway | 5th to 8th | £14,285,714£14.3m |
| 6 | Belgium | 5th to 8th | £14,285,714£14.3m |
| 7 | Morocco | 5th to 8th | £14,285,714£14.3m |
| 8 | Switzerland | 5th to 8th | £14,285,714£14.3m |
| 9 | Mexico | 9th to 16th | £11,278,195£11.3m |
| 10 | Colombia | 9th to 16th | £11,278,195£11.3m |
| 11 | Brazil | 9th to 16th | £11,278,195£11.3m |
| 12 | United States | 9th to 16th | £11,278,195£11.3m |
| 13 | Portugal | 9th to 16th | £11,278,195£11.3m |
| 14 | Canada | 9th to 16th | £11,278,195£11.3m |
| 15 | Egypt | 9th to 16th | £11,278,195£11.3m |
| 16 | Paraguay | 9th to 16th | £11,278,195£11.3m |
| 17 | Netherlands | 17th to 32nd | £8,270,677£8.3m |
| 18 | Germany | 17th to 32nd | £8,270,677£8.3m |
| 19 | Ivory Coast | 17th to 32nd | £8,270,677£8.3m |
| 20 | Croatia | 17th to 32nd | £8,270,677£8.3m |
| 21 | Japan | 17th to 32nd | £8,270,677£8.3m |
| 22 | Australia | 17th to 32nd | £8,270,677£8.3m |
| 23 | DR Congo | 17th to 32nd | £8,270,677£8.3m |
| 24 | Ghana | 17th to 32nd | £8,270,677£8.3m |
| 25 | Ecuador | 17th to 32nd | £8,270,677£8.3m |
| 26 | South Africa | 17th to 32nd | £8,270,677£8.3m |
| 27 | Sweden | 17th to 32nd | £8,270,677£8.3m |
| 28 | Austria | 17th to 32nd | £8,270,677£8.3m |
| 29 | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 17th to 32nd | £8,270,677£8.3m |
| 30 | Algeria | 17th to 32nd | £8,270,677£8.3m |
| 31 | Senegal | 17th to 32nd | £8,270,677£8.3m |
| 32 | Cape Verde | 17th to 32nd | £8,270,677£8.3m |
| 33 | Iran | 33rd to 48th | £6,766,917£6.8m |
| 34 | South Korea | 33rd to 48th | £6,766,917£6.8m |
| 35 | Turkey | 33rd to 48th | £6,766,917£6.8m |
| 36 | Scotland | 33rd to 48th | £6,766,917£6.8m |
| 37 | Uruguay | 33rd to 48th | £6,766,917£6.8m |
| 38 | Saudi Arabia | 33rd to 48th | £6,766,917£6.8m |
| 39 | Czechia | 33rd to 48th | £6,766,917£6.8m |
| 40 | New Zealand | 33rd to 48th | £6,766,917£6.8m |
| 41 | Qatar | 33rd to 48th | £6,766,917£6.8m |
| 42 | Curacao | 33rd to 48th | £6,766,917£6.8m |
| 43 | Panama | 33rd to 48th | £6,766,917£6.8m |
| 44 | Jordan | 33rd to 48th | £6,766,917£6.8m |
| 45 | Haiti | 33rd to 48th | £6,766,917£6.8m |
| 46 | Uzbekistan | 33rd to 48th | £6,766,917£6.8m |
| 47 | Tunisia | 33rd to 48th | £6,766,917£6.8m |
| 48 | Iraq | 33rd to 48th | £6,766,917£6.8m |
The band is the whole of it. Spain are paid £37,593,985 for winning it rather than that on top of every band below, which is what makes the eight bands add up to the £492,481,198 played for.
The whole distribution
What is played for, and what is paid for turning up
| PART OF THE POT | SHARE | THE 2026 POT |
|---|---|---|
| Played for on the pitch | 90.1% | £492,481,198£492.5m |
| Paid for taking part | 9.9% | £54,135,360£54.1m |
| The whole pot | 100% | £546,616,558£546.6m |
The most and the least a team leaves with
The pot grew after the bands were set
What FIFA moved, and what each figure is now
| WHAT IT IS | AS SET | NOW |
|---|---|---|
| The whole distribution | £546,616,558£546.6m | £654,887,218£654.9m |
| Paid to every team for taking part | £1,127,820£1.1m | £1,879,699£1.9m |
| Paid for reaching the tournament | £6,766,917£6.8m | £7,518,797£7.5m |
| The least any team collects | £7,894,737£7.9m | £9,398,496£9.4m |
FIFA raised the whole distribution to £654,887,218 after the eight bands were set. The flat payment every team gets for taking part went to £1,879,699 and the payment for reaching the tournament to £7,518,797, which puts the least any team collects at £9,398,496.
Frequently asked questions
How much do the World Cup winners get?
£38,721,805. That is £37,593,985 for winning it and £1,127,820 paid to every team for taking part, and it is the whole of what the champions are paid: there is no separate payment for each round on the way to it.
Who won the 2026 World Cup, and what were they paid?
Spain, who were paid £37,593,985 for winning it. Argentina were beaten in the final, a place that paid £24,812,030.
What is the World Cup prize money in total?
£546,616,558 across the 48 teams. £492,481,198 of that is played for on the pitch and split into eight bands by finishing place, and £54,135,360 is the flat £1,127,820 paid to every team before a ball is kicked.
How much does a team get for reaching the World Cup?
£7,894,737, and no team at the tournament collects less. It is £1,127,820 for taking part and £6,766,917 for the bottom band, which covers the 16 teams going out in the group stage.
Does World Cup prize money add up round by round?
No. A team is paid once, for where it finished, and the band is the whole of it. A team beaten in the quarter-finals collects £14,285,714 and not that plus every band under it. It is the opposite of the Champions League, where a club is paid again for each round it reaches.
How much do the losing World Cup finalists get?
£25,939,850, which is £24,812,030 for the band and £1,127,820 for taking part. Third place is worth £21,804,511 and fourth £20,300,752, so the third-place play-off is worth £1,503,759 to the teams that lose the semi-finals.
Has World Cup prize money changed since the bands were set?
Yes. FIFA raised the whole distribution to £654,887,218, the flat payment for taking part to £1,879,699 and the payment for reaching the tournament to £7,518,797, which puts the least any team collects at £9,398,496. The band-by-band table was not reissued with it, so the eight bands above are the ones FIFA has published.
Where to next
The rest of the money in the game
Where a competition pays again at every round rather than once at the end, see Champions League prize money, Club World Cup prize money, Europa League prize money and Conference League prize money. The domestic cups work the same way: DFB-Pokal prize money, FA Cup prize money, Carabao Cup prize money, FA Trophy prize money and FA Vase prize money. For what a league pays its clubs across a season, see Premier League prize money, La Liga prize money and La Liga 2 prize money, and for a league that publishes a percentage against every finishing position, Bundesliga prize money. Where a league publishes the shares and not the payments, see Serie A prize money. For what a relegated club is paid after it leaves, see Championship parachute payments. For another competition that pays by finishing place, see Women's World Cup prize money, Copa América prize money, Africa Cup of Nations prize money, CAF Champions League prize money and CAF Confederation Cup prize money.