July 13 – For the second straight World Cup, Manchester City have topped the list of FIFA payments to clubs who released players for the tournament in Qatar.
From the $209 million fund allocated by FIFA’s Club Benefits Programme, the Premier League and European champions received almost $4.6 million – eclipsing the entire amount sent to the whole continent of Africa which had five national teams at the tournament.
FIFA said that in total 440 clubs in 51 countries were rewarded with payments. Next on the list after City were Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Paris St-Germain.
English clubs received more than those in any other country – $37.7 million – while the $158.9 million total handed over to European teams accounted for 76% of the overall sum distributed.
The payments were made according to the number of days each of the 837 players involved had spent at the tournament, which was staged between 20 November and 18 December. What it proved, as if we didn’t know it, was that Europe’s wealthiest clubs have most of the world’s top talent.
Despite Morocco’s historic run as the first African team to reach the semi-finals, only two Moroccan clubs stood to earn any money since most of its national team players compete in Europe.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino has confirmed the figure will rise for the 2026 and 2030 editions of the World Cup, which is being expanded from 32 to 48 countries.
“Following the renewal of the memorandum of understanding with the European Clubs’ Association, the amount redistributed to clubs will further increase from $209m for the 2018 and 2022 editions to $355m for the 2026 and 2030 tournaments, recognising yet again the importance of the role played by clubs,” Infantino said.
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