VANCOUVER, CANADA – APRIL 28: FIFA President Gianni Infantino presents a gift to FIFA Vice-President and CONCACAF President Vittorio Montagliani during the 36th FIFA Council Meeting held at the Fairmont Pacific Rim Hotel in Vancouver, Canada, on April 28, 2026. (Photo credit: Verity Griffin – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
Verity Griffin – FIFA | FIFA | Getty Images
FIFA has increased payments to teams participating in the 2026 World Cup, with total distribution reaching $871 million, making it the most lucrative edition in history.
But the increase, announced last Wednesday at the 36th FIFA Executive Board meeting in Vancouver, Canada, comes as the governing body faces criticism over ticket prices and commercial partnerships.
Under the new financial distribution structure, participating organizations in the 2026 World Cup, to be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada starting June 11, will each receive an additional $2 million in the following areas:
This means each team will have a minimum payout of at least $12.5 million upon qualifying, with additional prize money based on their performance in the tournament.
Ricardo Fort, founder of sports consultancy Fort Consulting, said the payments are intended to cover some of the costs associated with qualifying and preparing for the quadrennial sports tournament, such as travel, training facilities and staff compensation, and are expected to be particularly meaningful for teams outside the sport’s traditional powerhouses.
“This progressive contribution to national football associations strengthens FIFA’s role in redistributing the commercial success of its competitions to the global football ecosystem,” Fort said.
The 2026 World Cup will be the largest in history, expanding from 32 teams in 2022 to 48 teams. Four national teams will be participating in this year’s tournament for the first time: Cape Verde, Curaçao, Jordan and Uzbekistan.
FIFA announced that more than $16 million has been set aside to cover participating squad costs and team ticket allocations, bringing the total amount set aside for participating teams to $871 million.
Football’s governing body previously announced it would increase the prize pool for December’s tournament by more than 50%.
In December, the FIFA Council approved a “record-breaking” prize pool of $727 million for the 2026 tournament, a 65% increase from the $440 million allocated to each team for the 2022 Qatar World Cup.
Concerns about ticket prices
Despite the higher prize money at this year’s tournament, fans have expressed dissatisfaction with ticket prices and FIFA’s revenue stream.
FIFA’s new “dynamic” pricing system means ticket prices will fluctuate based on demand. Some fans are reporting that ticket prices have increased more than 10 times since the 2022 tournament.
A CNBC review of ticket prices found they ranged from $380 for a Category 2 ticket for the group stage game between Curaçao and Ivory Coast in Philadelphia to $4,105 for a Category 1 ticket for the U.S. vs. Paraguay game at Los Angeles Stadium.
On FIFA’s official ticket resale platform, some listings have reached extreme levels, with one final match resale ticket listed for $11.5 million. FIFA does not control the price of resale tickets, but a fee of 15% of each transaction is collected.
A FIFA spokesperson told CNBC that the organization was “focused on providing fair access to the matches for existing fans as well as potential fans, and has offered group stage tickets starting at $60.”
However, these low-priced tickets were “allocated specifically to supporters of eligible teams, and the selection and distribution process was managed independently by the participating member associations.”
The spokesperson added that the variable pricing system is “in line with industry trends across various sports and entertainment sectors” and ensures “fair market value for events”.
Despite the outrage over ticket prices, demand for tickets to this year’s World Cup remains ostensibly high.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino previously told CNBC that FIFA had received about 508 million requests for the 7 million tickets sold for the tournament’s 104 matches.
If true, the number of in-person spectators for this year’s World Cup will be far lower than the number of spectators for the 2022 tournament in Qatar, which attracted more than 3.4 million spectators for all 64 matches.
“Ticket pricing is always a sensitive topic for a mega-event of this size,” Fort said. “There’s always going to be a base of fans who feel the prices are high, especially for premium matches.”
Still, he said FIFA’s pricing strategy is “working in the U.S. market” given the high demand.
Fans seem to be paying little attention to other FIFA controversies, such as the sponsorship deal with Saudi Arabia’s Aramco and the awarding of the FIFA Peace Prize to US President Donald Trump.
“Historically, what we’ve seen is that fan engagement in the tournament itself has remained incredibly resilient. Once competition begins, the focus shifts to soccer very quickly,” Fort said.
FIFA’s finances also grew along with the tournament. The governing body’s revenue in 2025 totaled $2.66 billion, with television broadcasting rights accounting for the majority, followed by marketing rights.
Total assets increased by 54% from the previous year to $9.48 billion. However, as total debt more than doubles in 2025, total reserves have declined by 8% from the previous year to nearly $2.7 billion.
Officially a non-profit organization, FIFA’s 2027-2030 budget shows that FIFA’s investments go toward improving infrastructure in its 211 member countries and hosting tournaments such as the World Cup and Club World Cup.
