FIFA has increased the prize money for teams participating in the 2026 World Cup ahead of the tournament’s commencement on June 11.
In a statement on Tuesday, FIFA said that 48 nations will receive $2.5 million each in preparation funds for the competition, a significant increase from the $1.5 million announced by the governing body last year.
Qualification prize money was also jacked up by $1 million from $9 million to $10 million per country, while an additional $16 million is set to be allocated as subsidies for team delegation costs and increased team ticketing allocations.
FIFA stated that the council approved the proposal when it met on Tuesday, ahead of the 76th FIFA Congress in Vancouver, Canada, on Thursday.
“Given the commercial success of FIFA’s flagship men’s tournament, the FIFA Council agreed to increase the resources to be distributed to all 48 participating teams by a further 15%, totalling $871 million. The increased pot will be broken down as follows:
“Preparation money: increase from $1.5 million to $2.5 million. Qualification money: increase from $9 million to $10 million. Additional team contributions: subsidies for team delegation costs and increased team ticketing allocations totalling over $16 million,” FIFA said.
During the meeting, FIFA also amended its regulations to allow the Afghan Women’s Refugee Team to compete in FIFA competitions without requiring approval from the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan.
“Building on the creation of the Afghan Women’s Refugee Team and their subsequent debut during the FIFA Unites – Women’s Series 2025, the FIFA Council agreed to amend the FIFA Governance Regulations to allow for the participation of the team in official FIFA competitions,” the governing body added.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino said, “We are proud of the beautiful journey initiated by Afghan Women United, and with this initiative we aim to enable them, as well as other FIFA Member Associations that may not be able to register a national or representative team for a FIFA competition, to make the next step, in coordination with the relevant confederation.”
Additionally, the governing body implemented a second amnesty stage that would reset yellow card records at the end of the World Cup group stages and after the quarter-finals to reduce the chance of players missing knockout matches.
