Man City and Barcelona land World Cup windfalls

Robin Bairner

• Updated: 23 May 2023 09:00 CDT
• 3 min read

Manchester City have earned $5.6 million (£4.5m) from having 16 players at World Cup 2022, ahead of Barcelona’s $4.1m, which is more than any other side in the world.

Clubs are paid compensation for their players being involved with national teams over the period, with FIFA giving $209 million (£165m) to teams around the world, which works out at a rate of around $10,000 per player per day.

While the formula is one that remains controversial due to the threat of players picking up injuries and also the different pay scales that international stars are one, Man City are the team that is set to land the greatest compensation package over the course of Qatar 2022.

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The other Premier League clubs that earned more than $3m, meanwhile, were Manchester United at $3.6m and Chelsea, who will recoup $3.1m.

City and Barcelona gave 16 and 17 players respectively to national teams over the course of the competition, but the Premier League giants have recouped more money by virtue of their players remaining in Qatar longer. Barca had eight players in the Spain squad that was knocked out of the group stages of the competition.

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World Cup Knockout bonuses

In addition, a club can apply for additional compensation the further each of their players goes in the competition. Any star who participates in the knockout stages of the tournament will land his club $180,000 stretching up to $370,000 per player who reaches the final.

The formula is not quite so simple, though. For players who have been at the club for less than two years, the payment has to be split with his previous team.

Fresh talks will be held ahead of the 2026 World Cup in North America over a new package of payments. These will be complicated by the number of teams participating in the competition rising to 48. The trend, though, is for payments to increase substantially after each tournament.