FIFA promised $1 billion in total prize money Wednesday to the 32 teams playing at the men´s Club World Cup in the United States.
The long-awaited confirmation just over three months before the opening game in Miami follows a broadcast deal belatedly being agreed with streaming service DAZN backed by Saudi Arabian money.
Clubs in Europe – with 12 entries in the inaugural lineup, including Real Madrid, Manchester City, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain – had sought promises from FIFA they could earn tens of millions of dollars from the month-long tournament. FIFA gave no details of the prize money formula.
The first edition of the four-yearly club event will have total revenue of $2 billion, FIFA said, publishing its financial report for 2024, and will include funding payments known as solidarity to teams that did qualify.
FIFA’s report said ticket and hospitality sales of $500 million are expected across the 63 Club World Cup games being played across 12 American cities.
Teams qualified through four seasons of winning titles, or through consistent results, in soccer’s continental club championships through 2024. FIFA gave Inter Miami and Lionel Messi a host-nation entry for the team’s record in the Major League Soccer regular season.
Club World Cup money is on target to raise the soccer body´s budgeted four-year income to $13 billion through the 2026 World Cup being co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
FIFA books its income from broadcast deals and most of its sponsor deals in the year a tournament is played. The full picture of its finances will be detailed in the financial report published early in 2027.
FIFA said its president Gianni Infantino was paid a basic salary of 2.6 million Swiss francs ($2.92 million) in 2024, a raise of 140,000 Swiss francs ($157,000).
His annual bonus of 1.65 million Swiss francs ($1.85 million) was the same as in 2023 for a total package of 4.25 million Swiss francs ($4.77 million). FIFA has published salary details as part of transparency reforms since Infantino was elected in 2016.