World football governing body, FIFA, has increased the prize money for the World Cup to $737 million, with the winner of the 2026 edition to earn $50 million.
 
The FIFA Council approved prize money for the tournament at a meeting in Doha yesterday, with the overall fund available to competing nations set at $727m, up 50 per cent on the 2022 finals in Qatar.
 
Each nation will receive $1.5m from FIFA in preparation costs and at least a further $9m just for competing in the group stage.
 
The confirmation comes as fan groups accused FIFA of playing “PR games” over ticket prices.
 
Football’s world governing body announced on Tuesday that 60-dollar (£45) tickets would be made available in the allocations national associations sell to their most loyal fans, after widespread criticism of FIFA’s initial pricing was revealed last week.
 
However, only 10 per cent of tickets within this allocation will be available at this price. For the England v Croatia match, for example, it would benefit around 400 out of the more than 4,000 fans able to buy tickets through the England Supporters Travel Club (ESTC) allocation.
 
For the remainder, tickets will start at £198 for that opening match, and at an eye-watering £3,140 for the final.
  
According to FIFA, $655m will be put towards prize money, distributed as follows: Champions, $50m; runners-up, $33m; third place, $29m; fourth place, $27m; fifth to eighth place, $19m;
ninth-16th place, $15m; 17th to 32nd place, $11m, and 33rd to 48th place, $9m.
 
In addition, each qualified team will receive $1.5m to cover preparation costs. This means that all participating member associations are guaranteed at least $10.5m each.