The U.S. men's national soccer team has advanced to the Round of 32 - increasing their prize payout
An artist adds final touches to a painting featuring Argentina's Lionel Messi and Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo.
The U.S. men's national soccer team has officially advanced to the Round of 32 knockout stage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup as the tournament enters its next chapter.
This year, 48 countries began the tournament, competing for the famed gold trophy and a record $50 million championship prize. But if you're trying to figure out how much each World Cup team gets paid to play or what your favorite player stands to make, it can get a little complicated. The Americans operate under a unique pay model, for example.
Here's what you need to know if you want to be able to talk about World Cup compensation like a pro while watching all the games.
For starters, FIFA doesn't pay any players directly. Rather, it distributes prize money to each national team's soccer federations - for example, U.S. Soccer, the English Football Association or the French Football Federation. For this summer's tournament, those funds total a record $871 million. Each country's federation gets $12.5 million for preparation for and participation in the tournament and collects additional amounts depending on how far the team advances.
Below are the performance-based allocated prize amounts for the 2026 FIFA World Cup:
Stage of elimination Performance prize money $(USD)$ Total FIFA payout (with $2.5M prep fee included) Group-stage exit (16 teams) $10,000,000 $12,500,000 Round of 32 exit (16 teams) $11,000,000 $13,500,000 Round of 16 exit (8 teams) $15,000,000 $17,500,000 Quarterfinal exit (4 teams) $19,000,000 $21,500,000 Fourth-place finish (1 team) $27,000,000 $29,500,000 Third-place finish (1 team) $29,000,000 $31,500,000 Runners-up (2nd place) (1 team) $33,000,000 $35,500,000 Tournament champions (1 team) $50,000,000 $52,500,000
Out of the total $871 million prize pool, $655 million is performance-based, with the remaining amounts given for tournament participation. Each country is guaranteed $10 million for qualifying for the tournament, plus an additional $2.5 million in preparation grants, according to FIFA.
That means that after the USMNT advanced to the Round of 32 on Thursday night, the team is now guaranteed a minimum of $13.5 million, with opportunities to earn more.
The prize pool is nearly double the $440 million for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, mainly attributed to the growth of the game and the tournament's expansion from 32 teams to 48 teams this year.
FIFA's prize money goes directly to the national football federations, and each federation has the discretion to divvy up the funds however it wants, according to FIFA's official governing documents. A federation can give equal payouts to players, coaches and team personnel, or give larger payments to players, for example.
This makes it difficult to calculate how much each World Cup player will earn during the tournament, as the exact disbursement breakdown for all 48 soccer federations is not fully known.
It's been reported that the French Football Federation has in the past offered appearance fees to players for each match played. Other nations have historically given bonuses linked to tournament progress.
For example, in the 2018 tournament, French attacker Kylian Mbappe, then 19 years old, made roughly $500,000 after the team won the tournament - $22,300 for each game, plus bonuses for winning. (He later announced he would donate his winnings to charity.) Mbappe, who now plays for Real Madrid, has since become one of the highest-paid players in world soccer, making over $400 million throughout his career.
England's players reportedly received around GBP2,000 ($2,683) per match during the 2022 World Cup and 2024 European Championships. For English footballers, there's a longstanding tradition of donating that money to charity. Through its football federation, English players can also earn additional bonuses based on team performance, although those bonus figures are not fully known.
How does that compare to possible payouts for the U.S. men's national team? The U.S. federation operates under a different model.
Following a landmark agreement in 2022, U.S. Soccer announced it would pool and share 80% of the FIFA World Cup prize money earned by its men's and women's national teams, which created one of the most notable equal-pay arrangements in sports history. After taking its 20% cut, the federation will split the rest equally among 52 players - 26 players on the roster of each team.
"Been a long process for all sides but proud of everyone involved for reaching and achieving this. It now truly is One Nation, One Team," Tim Ream, a current USMNT defender, said about the equal-pay news back in 2022.
This year, advancing to the 2026 World Cup knockout stage could net each USMNT player around $200,000, assuming the money is split evenly among the players. Coaches, team personnel and medical personnel are paid from a separate fund, so the 80% allocation to players remains unchanged independent of those costs.
But if the U.S. men's team were to win the World Cup - for the first time in history - its prize money would grow substantially, leading to an approximately $800,000 payout per player.
So do the teams that get paid more win more?
For a few top teams, there actually appears to be an inverse relationship between the most successful teams and how much their players are paid. England and France are the two most wagered-on favorites to win the tournament, but both of those elite soccer federations reportedly pay their players a lot less than the U.S. players get.
Ultimately, for the top soccer players in the world, the payouts for the World Cup matter less than the prestige that comes with playing for their country and winning in the tournament. Part of that may be because international soccer, like the World Cup, is their side hustle, while their "day jobs" with their club teams are where they earn their real money. Some of the highest-paid players at the World Cup include Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo (who earns $300 million playing for Saudi Arabia's Al-Nassr), Argentina's Lionel Messi (MLS's Inter Miami, $140 million), Mbappé (Spain's Real Madrid, $95 million) and Norway's Erling Haaland (England's Manchester City, $80 million), according to Forbes.
The 2026 World Cup is being co-hosted by the U.S., Canada and Mexico. All three host teams have advanced to the knockout stage of the tournament.
The U.S. will play Bosnia and Herzegovina in its Round of 32 knockout match in San Francisco on Wednesday, July 1. Canada will play South Africa on June 28, and Mexico will play on June 30 against an opponent that is yet to be determined.
-Weston Blasi
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 26, 2026 12:21 ET (16:21 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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