Club World Cup prize money rankings: How much has each team earned so far?

New York Times

5 hours ago

Forty-eight games down, 15 to go.
FIFA's new, engorged Club World Cup has completed its group stage, 16 clubs are on their way home and, over the next fortnight, the remaining 16 will tussle to lift a trophy so gaudy even Louis XIV might have turned his nose up at it.
Alongside that (notably heavy) trinket, whoever runs out victorious in East Rutherford in mid-July will also bank themselves a hefty cash prize. The winners of this summer's tournament will earn a further $74.1million (£54m), including $40m from the final alone, on top of what they have already pocketed from the competition — and much of FIFA's $1billion prize pot has now been allocated.
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Even before the round of 16 begins, we already know where nearly three-quarters of the money will go: $525m in participation fees were doled out before a ball was kicked and, since then, the results of 48 group games and the identification of 16 progressing teams (who each earned $7.5m for doing so) means a further $216m in performance-related prize money has also been apportioned.
A look at the prize money leaders throws up some familiar (some might say obvious) names. Sitting at the top are Manchester City, the only club to exceed $50m so far. Behind them are some of the wealthiest clubs in world football: Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, and on it goes.
While the general theme of European clubs hoovering up much of the bounty is true, there is a caveat to the order of things.
Upon announcing how it would distribute the prize pot, FIFA provided participation fee figures for UEFA's qualifying clubs, but not the amounts each of the 12 clubs would get. UEFA clubs qualified either by winning the Champions League between 2020-21 and 2023-24 or through their coefficient ranking over the same period. Participation fees for European clubs in the Club World Cup were "determined by a ranking based on sporting and commercial criteria", according to FIFA.
To work out the prize money rankings, we've assumed clubs were ordered by their coefficient ranking, although FIFA's inclusion of "commercial criteria" means our figures might not be exactly right. The Athletic has not been able to establish the exact allocation of participation fees to UEFA clubs.
Regardless of the order, it's fairly clear European sides will be taking home most of the spoils. The top eight prize money spots are occupied by European clubs and of the $741m allocated, $424.5m (57 per cent) has gone to UEFA clubs. On average, the 12 competing clubs from football's richest continent have earned $35.4m apiece this summer.
Behind them, CONMEBOL's South American teams have picked up an average of $23.9m each, as Brazil's four competing teams lost just one of their 12 group games and all four qualified for the knockout rounds. The failure of the Argentinian sides to do the same, however, brought CONMEBOL's average down.
The distribution of participation fees ensured Europe's clubs would always get the biggest slice of the prize. It speaks volumes that Porto and Atletico Madrid were knocked out at the group stage but have earned more than Al Hilal, Inter Miami and Monterrey, who have reached the last 16.
Yet between them, the six CONMEBOL teams have banked $143.3m, just under a fifth of the prize pot distributed so far. The remaining four confederations have earned $173.2m combined.
The five Concacaf clubs' earnings total $71.8m, even as Pachuca and Seattle Sounders, who both lost all three of their group games, failed to build on their $9.6m in participation fees.
Of the three MLS teams competing, only Inter Miami remain, having generated $21.1m before Sunday's meeting with Paris Saint-Germain.
In theory, Miami, Seattle and Los Angeles FC each get to enjoy their respective sums, with the prize money remaining in club hands rather than going into a central MLS pot. Less clear is where it will go next. A dispute between MLS, acting on the three clubs' behalf, and the MLS Players Association over player bonuses — subject to a cap that the money from the Club World Cup far exceeds — remains ongoing.
Returning to those Brazilian clubs, this summer's tournament has offered quite the boon to at least two of them. Flamengo and Palmeiras already lead the revenue stakes back home, but based on the most recent figures, fellow Club World Cup participants Fluminense and Botafogo were sixth and eighth among their domestic rivals. Each of them has earned $26.7m, a huge proportion of their usual revenues.
For Fluminense, it's over a third of their $74m turnover in 2024. For Botafogo, the boost is even higher; their prize money from the last fortnight is almost half of the $55m they generated across the whole of 2023 (they are yet to publish 2024 financials).
Get past their respective hurdles of Serie A side Inter and domestic rivals Palmeiras, and each will bank a further $13.1m, as will anyone else who makes the quarter-finals.
A huge amount of money has already been divvied up across this summer's 32 Club World Cup teams, but there's plenty left to play for. A further $259m will be allocated between now and the competition's end on July 13.