How Much Will FIFA Pay Clubs for Players at the 2026 World Cup?

FIFA will distribute more than €300 million to clubs for releasing players to the 2026 World Cup. Manchester City tops the ranking.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will not only be a global showcase for national teams, brands and host cities. It will also trigger a multimillion-euro payout to the clubs that develop, employ and release the players who make the tournament possible.

According to an analysis by German bank Deutsche Kreditbank AG, better known as DKB, FIFA will pay more than €300 million to clubs around the world during the group stage of the 2026 World Cup as part of its compensation program for releasing players. The tournament, which will be held in the United States, Canada and Mexico, will not only move audiences, sponsorship dollars and tourism; it will also redistribute money to the teams that provide talent to national squads.

The mechanism is straightforward: each club receives a daily compensation payment for every player called up to the World Cup. In addition, the clubs where those players were registered in previous years can also receive a proportional share of the payments. In other words, the money does not only reward a player’s current club, but also part of the recent sporting chain that helped shape that player’s career.

Manchester City, Bayern Munich and PSG Lead the Payout Ranking

The biggest beneficiary in DKB’s analysis is Manchester City. The English club is expected to receive approximately €4.63 million, the highest amount among all teams included in the study. FC Bayern Munich follows with roughly €4.04 million, while Paris Saint-Germain ranks third with €3.57 million.

Arsenal, the recent Premier League champion and Champions League finalist, ranks fourth with close to €3.54 million. Al-Hilal Saudi FC, one of Saudi Arabia’s most prominent clubs, follows with approximately €3.16 million.

The ranking reflects a clear reality of modern soccer: clubs with deeper, more international and more globalized squads are also the ones best positioned to benefit financially from the World Cup. It is not only about having domestic players called up. It is about having talent spread across high-performing national teams with the potential to go deep into the tournament.

LaLiga Will Also Cash In — But Spain Does Not Tell the Whole Story

FC Barcelona ranks eighth globally with approximately €2.83 million. The figure is significant, although lower than what the Catalan club received during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, when it ranked as the second-biggest beneficiary worldwide with around €4.17 million during the group stage.

Real Madrid, meanwhile, ranks 11th with close to €2.73 million. The figure is especially notable because, according to the analysis, the Spanish club does not have any players called up to Spain’s national team for this World Cup. Its compensation will come from players representing teams such as France, Brazil and England.

The contrast with Barcelona is significant. While the Catalan club contributes eight players to Spain, Real Madrid shows that the globalization of elite rosters can be more financially valuable than a concentration of domestic national-team players. In the modern World Cup, a club’s economic value is not defined only by its ties to one national team, but by its ability to place talent across multiple squads.

Other Spanish clubs are also set to receive significant payments. Atlético de Madrid is expected to receive approximately €2.49 million, Villarreal CF around €1.62 million and Real Betis Balompié roughly €1.47 million. Overall, LaLiga ranks fourth among professional leagues in compensation revenue, with €17.80 million.

The Premier League Wins Off the Field, Too

By league, the Premier League clearly leads the payout table. English clubs are expected to receive approximately €41.49 million, a figure that confirms the international weight of their rosters and their ability to concentrate talent from elite national teams.

Germany’s Bundesliga ranks second with €22.52 million, closely followed by France’s Ligue 1 with €19.23 million. LaLiga comes fourth with €17.80 million, while Italy’s Serie A ranks fifth with €17.08 million.

Italy’s case is particularly notable. Although Italy will not participate in the 2026 World Cup, its clubs will still receive significant revenue thanks to foreign players on their rosters. Within Serie A, the biggest beneficiaries will be AC Milan, with €2.26 million; Juventus, with €1.70 million; Bologna, with €1.64 million; Atalanta, with €1.62 million; and AS Roma, with €1.52 million.

The message is clear: a national team can miss the World Cup, but its domestic league can still profit if it serves as a platform for international players.

Club América and Chivas Lead the Mexican Payouts

In Mexico, the financial impact will also be significant. According to DKB’s study, Liga MX clubs will receive close to €6.78 million, equivalent to approximately 136.7 million Mexican pesos.

Club América will be the Mexican team receiving the most money from the 2026 World Cup, with approximately €1.2 million. Chivas de Guadalajara ranks second with around €1.1 million, while Cruz Azul completes the top three with €644,331.

Pumas UNAM is expected to receive around €629,840; León, €504,277; Atlas, €491,920; and Toluca, €466,883. Tigres UANL will receive €338,731; Tijuana, €340,834; Monterrey, €173,735; FC Juárez, €170,280; Pachuca, €141,214; and Mazatlán FC, €84,140.

For Liga MX, the data arrives at a strategic moment. Mexico will not only be a World Cup host country; it will also be part of the economic circuit generated by the tournament across clubs, players, brands and audiences. Although the figures remain far below those of Europe’s biggest leagues, the distribution confirms that Mexican clubs are also part of soccer’s global value chain.

Brazil Leads Latin America

In Latin America, Brazil’s Serie A leads the regional ranking with €7.57 million in compensation for its clubs. Liga MX Apertura follows with €6.44 million, while Argentina’s Torneo Clausura is expected to receive approximately €2.78 million.

Ecuador’s LigaPro Serie A ranks fourth in the region with €1.28 million. The gap between Brazil, Mexico and the rest of the region reflects two realities: Brazil’s role as a global exporter of soccer talent and Liga MX’s growing presence as a platform for World Cup players.

Former Players Can Still Generate Revenue

One of the most interesting features of FIFA’s compensation program is that it does not only reward a player’s current club. Teams where the player was registered in previous seasons can also receive a share of the daily payment, up to one-third of the corresponding amount.

Olympique de Marseille is the club that benefits the most from this rule, with approximately €600,629. It is followed by Wolverhampton Wanderers, with €538,908; Stade Rennais FC, with €454,521; RC Lens, with €436,723; and Bayer 04 Leverkusen, with €423,975.

This mechanism reveals another dimension of the business: the World Cup does not only reward the present value of players, but also part of their recent trajectory. In an industry where player development, transfers and the international circulation of talent are economic assets, even a former player can continue generating revenue.

The 2026 FIFA World Cup will be the largest in history by number of teams, host cities and matches. But it will also be one of the most important in terms of financial redistribution to clubs. Behind every call-up, there will be a transfer of value. Behind every minute played, a compensation payment. And behind every World Cup star, a chain of clubs that will also take part in the business.

The World Cup will be played on the field, but an important share of its financial benefits has already begun to move behind the scenes.

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