Club World Cup prize money: Where did the $1billion prize pot go?

New York Times

17 hours ago

President Donald Trump's apparent reluctance to leave the stage during the trophy lift bemused plenty, not least the Chelsea players surrounding him. Yet, in many ways, Trump being front and centre offered a perfect human avatar for FIFA's revamped Club World Cup: ostentatious, brash, money never too far from the conversation.
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That money has flowed in torrents this summer, via an intriguing route.
Like it or not, the end result is clear and headline-grabbing. Across 32 competing teams over the last month, FIFA have doled out a $1billion (£744m) prize pot. Sunday evening's final between Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain saw each side earn $30m just for getting there, before Chelsea's 3-0 victory banked them a further $10m.
There were reasons beyond football for both the team and the club's owners — chairman Todd Boehly looked plenty happy alongside Trump after full time — to rejoice. Through winning the 2025 iteration of a tournament previously ignored by much of the footballing world, Chelsea earned themselves an estimated $114.6m (£84.5m).
Reece James & Co will enjoy chunky bonus payments from this latest success.
PSG were the only other club to top $100m, but their presence atop the prize money table was in keeping with football's existing power structure. Semi-finalists Real Madrid, those paupers, earned $82.5m, the third highest in the competition.
For all the talk of the Club World Cup having redistributive potential, $623.1m of the $1bn on offer has wound up in the hands of 12 European clubs.
Of the seven highest-earning clubs this summer, six hailed from UEFA territory. The main interlopers were Fluminense. Their run to the semi-finals translated to $60.8m in prize money, or 82 per cent of the club's entire revenue in 2024.
Fluminense were only the sixth highest earning club in Brazil last year, so such a mammoth boost to their finances should help them better compete for a domestic title they last won 13 years ago. But any advantage will be tempered by the fact Flamengo and Palmeiras, Brazil's richest two clubs, were also invited to this summer's jamboree; they picked up $27.7m and $39.8m apiece.
Botafogo's $26.7m rounded out Brazilian earnings.
While Fluminense might find their status elevated, there's also the potential that the money will just worsen the gap from the top to the rest. Their earnings from the Club World Cup were more than the annual income of 12 Brazilian top-flight clubs last year.
Crossing the border into Argentina, neither Boca Juniors nor River Plate improved much on their $15.2m participation fee, earning just $5m in 'performance' money between them as neither side made it beyond the group stage.
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Despite that, the six teams from South America ensured CONMEBOL was the second-highest-earning confederation this summer, collecting $190.5m between them.
While that figure trailed UEFA's takings by over $400m, it was also more than the other four confederations combined; the 14 competing clubs from the Concacaf, CAF, AFC and OFC confederations amassed just $186.4m, or $13.3m per team — lower than the participation fee of all but one European team.
UEFA teams earned over $50m each on average, even as Atletico Madrid, Porto and Red Bull Salzburg failed to progress beyond the group stage. Of course, that average figure rather belies the split of payments to European clubs, where takings ranged from Chelsea's $114.6m to just $15.8m going to Salzburg.
Of those 14 teams from the four confederations outlined above, only three made it to the knockouts. For the other 11, performance-based payments totalled just $11m. Ninety per cent of those clubs' prize money came from participation fees, with the actual football played contributing little to their respective coffers.
One of the clubs that did get to the round of 16 were Inter Miami. Their $21.1m prize money won't make up a huge proportion of revenues at a club expected to be earning around $200m annually now, but it won't hurt matters either. An interesting point of reference is, as ever, one Lionel Messi. His $20.4m guaranteed salary has been usurped by this summer's earnings.
Elsewhere in Major League Soccer, LAFC and Seattle Sounders scarcely added to their participation fees, taking home $10.6m and $9.6m respectively.
Fluminense offer the most glaring example of the Club World Cup boosting an individual club's revenues, but there are some others worth noting too. Reliable financial information for a number of the competing clubs is hard to come by, but there's enough out there to show the impact this summer has had.
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In Japan, Urawa Red Diamonds' most recent turnover was $59.5m. They earned $9.6m from the tournament, all in participation fees as they failed to pick up a point, or around a sixth of their annual revenue. Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa fared a bit better, managing a win and a draw in Group F.
That took their total earnings to $12.6m, or a third of their usual turnover.
How the earnings from this summer's tournament impact world football will take time to become clear. In Brazil, clubs already emboldened by loosening ownership rules in recent years have received a further boost, which may prove helpful in retaining young talent — or driving a higher premium from richer buyers across the Atlantic.
There's the potential that the money won will distort domestic competitions. Clubs earning big relative sums is great for them, but there's a level of uncertainty around how much is too much; if one club is able to take its earnings from the Club World Cup and dominate back home, it raises the question of how healthy the distribution of money to less affluent football nations has really been.
While the focus has been on prize money, it's easy to forget clubs had to get to the United States to compete in the first place. Auckland City, 10-0 losers vs Bayern Munich but also draw-getters against Boca Juniors, spent a significant amount just on travel costs, though their $4.6m earnings will help.
They will also pay for a new all-weather pitch which will serve nearby schools at their home in New Zealand.
Chelsea's bonus payments to players won't be so vast as to gobble up the sizeable amount they've banked this summer, and they'll be more than happy to enjoy the financial spoils as well as the plaudits, such as they are, for winning the tournament.
The west London club recently entered into a settlement agreement with UEFA, with the aim of improving the club's finances and bringing them into line with the European governing body's regulations.
Over $100m in extra revenue won't hurt.