sport news FIFA set to pay clubs record £290m at 2026 World Cup trends now
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FIFA will pay clubs $355million [£290m] for releasing players for the 2026 World Cup - an enormous 75 per cent increase from Qatar last year.
Under the Club Benefits Programme, introduced at the 2010 South Africa World Cup, FIFA compensates clubs around the world for each day their players are away at the tournament.
Manchester City profited most of any club from the 2022 World Cup, receiving £4.5m of the £169m [$209m] pot FIFA distributed.
But those sums are set to skyrocket after FIFA and the European Club Association [ECA] renewed their Memorandum of Understanding through until December 31, 2030 at a summit in Budapest.
With the World Cup set to expand from 32 to 48 nations - and from 64 to 104 matches - from the 2026 tournament jointly hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, the compensation pot has risen accordingly.
Lionel Messi and Argentina lift the World Cup in Qatar - the amount of compensation paid by FIFA to clubs for releasing