By Rohith Nair
April 26 (Reuters) – FIFA is in discussions with national associations to increase prize money for all 48 teams participating in the 2026 World Cup, soccer’s global governing body said on Sunday.
The proposal must be approved at Tuesday’s FIFA Council meeting being held ahead of the 76th FIFA Congress in Vancouver.
In December, FIFA said prize money for this year’s World Cup would be 50% higher than for the previous edition at $655 million after agreeing a record $727 million financial contribution to the tournament.
However, FIFA has told Reuters that the prize money on offer is set to increase with the world governing body projected to surpass $11 billion in revenue in the current four-year cycle from 2023 to 2026.
“FIFA can confirm it is in discussions with associations around the world to increase available revenues,” said a FIFA spokesperson.
“This includes a proposed increase of financial contributions to all qualified teams for the FIFA World Cup 2026 and of development funding available to all 211 member associations.
“The FIFA World Cup 2026 will be groundbreaking in terms of its financial contribution to the global football community and FIFA is proud to be in its strongest ever financial position to benefit the global game through its FIFA Forward programme.”
The biggest slice of FIFA’s initial funding package for the North American showpiece – $655 million – was to be performance-based payments to the 48 participating nations.
FIFA’s December announcement on prize money said the champions would take home $50 million and the runners-up $33 million while the 16 nations that failed to advance from the initial group phase were set to earn $9 million.
Additionally, each qualified nation would be entitled to $1.5 million to cover preparation costs.
FIFA’s 2025 annual report said 93% of its total budgeted revenue had already been contracted by the end of 2025 thanks to the success of the inaugural 32-team Club World Cup held in the United States last year.
The 2026 World Cup runs from June 11 to July 19 in the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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