Spain's triumph and $9 billion for FIFA: how the 2026 World Cup changed the football economy

The new format brought record revenues

The main reason for the financial success was the large-scale reform of the tournament.

For the first time in history, the World Cup was held with participation 48 teams instead of 32. The number of matches increased from 64 to 104, and the duration of the tournament — from four to six weeks.

It was the expansion of the competition that ensured a sharp increase in revenues from the sale of television rights, advertising, sponsorship contracts and tickets.

Tickets are almost completely sold out

The price of tickets for the championship matches ranged from 60 dollars to over 10 thousand dollars, while the median price exceeded 900 dollars.

Despite the high prices, the average occupancy of stadiums in the group stage was 99%, indicating record demand among fans.

FIFA is already thinking about further expansion

President of FIFA Gianni Infantino is already promoting the idea of ​​increasing the number of World Cup participants to 64 teams in 2030.

The initiative is supported by a number of national football associations that receive funding from FIFA for the development of football.

What will the earned billions go to

Since FIFA has the status of a non-profit organization, the funds received are planned to be directed to the development of football and the organization of future tournaments.

In particular:

• 2.7 billion dollars allocated to the program FIFA Forward 4.0, which will finance the development of football in 211 member countries organizations during 2027–2030;

• close 6 billion dollars will be reserved for holding 2030 World Cup and events for the centenary of the world championship.

How much did the national team get?

FIFA pays national federations money both for sports performance and for preparation for the tournament.

Each team is guaranteed to receive at least 12.5 million dollars, of which:

• - 10 million dollars — for participation in the group stage;

• - 2.5 million dollars — compensation for training costs.

The biggest prizes were awarded to:

• - Spain — 51 million dollars for winning the tournament;

• - Argentina — 34 million dollars for second place;

• - England — 30 million dollars for bronze medals.

At the same time, the prize money for the winner of the World Cup remained lower than the reward received by the winner of the Club World Cup.

What is known

Earlier, FIFA reached an agreement in principle to increase the prize pool of the 2026 World Cup and also announced a partnership with the platform TikTok to cover the tournament. In addition, according to the results of last year, the football clubs of the world spent a record amount on transfers 13 billion dollars.