The 76th edition of the annual FIFA congress is taking place on Thursday, April 30, with representatives of all 211 members, with 48 of those being set to play World Cup in a month and a half, in the largest and most logistically demanding World Cup competition ever. With the World Cup taking place in three different countries, traveling costs and other operation costs have increased for participating countries, and several have asked for larger prize money to cover for all the expenses.
Among many different topics discussed, it is expected that FIFA will increase the prize fund for World Cup 2026, from an already record-breaking sum of $727m to be distributed between the 48 participating nations on performance-based payments, but also all 211 FIFA members as development funding.
According to Reuters, each team would receive at least $10.5m and the winning team would win $50m. Each participating nation would have received $1.5m in advance to cover preparation costs, but those sums could increase further after this week's meeting, with FIFA projected to surpass $11 billion in revenue for the four-year cycle of 2023 and 2026, with revenues from last year's Club World Cup helping prepare the large sum for this year's unprecedented 48-team World Cup.
