FIFA’s newly expanded Club Benefits Programme is set pay out about $355 million (just over R6 billion) as a form of reward to teams for releasing players for the World Cup qualifiers.
This significant payout means that there has been an increase of nearly 70% for what they paid out the last time around.
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Signed by FIFA and the European Club Association (ECA) in March two years ago, the renewed memorandum of understanding, will now compensate clubs who released their players for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. In the past, clubs only benefitted if their players reached the finals as in the case of Chippa United who had Daniel Akpeyi representing Nigeria at the 2018 World Cup in Russia where they pocketed R3 million.
Two PSL clubs who will benefit the most are Mamelodi Sundowns and Orlando Pirates having had the most representatives in the Bafana Bafana fold during the qualifiers.
“The enhanced edition of the FIFA Club Benefits Programme for the FIFA World Cup 2026 is going a step further by recognising financially the huge contribution that so many clubs and their players around the world make to the staging of both the qualifiers and the final tournament,” said FIFA President Gianni Infantino in a release.
“A record USD 355 million will be distributed to clubs for the release of their players, and this reinforces our solid collaboration with the European Club Association and clubs worldwide as we all look forward to a groundbreaking and globally inclusive edition of the FIFA World Cup next year.”
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