Teams battle for FIFA Club World Cup cash bonanza

In traditional circumstances, this is the time of the year when multitude of football players would be jetting off on well needed holidays with others preparing for a final round of action with their national teams in the final international window of the season.

But this year is different, for 32 club teams, a new tournament takes centre stage with the first exer expanded FIFA Club World Cup set to kick off in Miami on June 14.

Some of the biggest names in club football (Real Madrid, PSG, Boca Juniors, Al Hilal, Bayern Munich, Chelsea...) from around the world will converge on the United States with the final earmarked for July 13 in New Jersey.

Real Madrid priority

Real Madrid have made little secret that they plan to take the tournament seriously, very seriously.

After a disappointing season and with a new head coach (Xabi Alonso) at the helm, the thirst for a title for ‘Los Blancos’ has increased.

It’s in the Real Madrid fan’s DNA: they need to see a Real Madrid team that wins, and keeps winning is the message from the top level of the club even suggesting that the Club World Cup is the “most important” tournament of the season.

Apart from the prize money on offer, Real Madrid are keen to create the prestige of being debut winners of the new competition, in the same way the Bernabeu side won the first European Cup (1956) and the inaugural Intercontinental Cup (1960).

Cash bonanza

Apart from the pride in winning the FIFA competition, the club has approved “Champions Champions bonuses”: €1 million gross for each player if they win the tournament. The same amount awarded for a Champions League win with the club putting the Club World Cup is on that same level.

Winning the Club World Cup means a massive payday for the victors with FIFA confirming that this tournament will have the largest prize pool ever for a football competition with a group stage and knockout stage (comprising seven matches).

Prizes per round

The payouts are public and simple: each victory in the group stage will bring in 2 million dollars (if there is a tie, this money is shared: one million for each team). Winning in the round of 16 will bring in 7.5 million dollars and in the quarterfinals, 13.125 billion dollars. From here on, the real deal: semifinals are 21 million and the final, 40 million.

Prizes for the tournament

*To this must be added €33.5M fixed for participating.

About €140M in total

Winning all three group stage matches and lifting the trophy would mean a total take of around €140 million.

To put this into perspective, winning the Champions League (and winning all the group stage games, in a highly optimistic scenario) means a take home of around €100 million. The Club World Cup offers more. And that’s just in terms of the ‘base prizes’ with advertising and TV rights and other spin offs potentially adding more cash to the bottom line.