FIFA has 211 participating nations in qualifiers, outside of Eritrea and Russia, which have been suspended since 2022 from international play.
“This new approach means that any club that releases a player for a FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifier will now be directly compensated,” FIFA said in a statement.
The $355 million allocation comes from a previous agreement with the European Club Association for the tournament, to be hosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada.
In the 2022 World Cup, the payout was $209 million, with Manchester City receiving the highest amount any at $4.6 million.
MLS received a payout of $7.2 million, which was spread out between 25 clubs.C.F. Montreal received a league-high payment of $1.04 million, with the Seattle Sounders next at $826,757. D.C. United received the lowest payment among MLS clubs at $31,000. The rounded per-day amount for players in the league was $10,900 – regardless of actual playing time.
FIFA said 440 clubs across 51 member countries got payments from the 2022 structure.
FIFAearned a record$7.5 billionin revenue from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, a significant increase from previous tournaments.The tournament was the most profitable in FIFA’s history, generating $1 billion more than the preceding World Cup cycle.
Qualified World Cup teams will find out group stage assignments during the draw on Dec. 5 in Washington, D.C.
