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Irish clubs Shamrock Rovers and St Patrick's Athletic have already earned nearly €30,000 from FIFA's Club Benefits Programme, with potential for much more as their players participate in the 2026 World Cup. The program pays clubs per day per player at the finals, with increased funding this year.
Shamrock Rovers and St Patrick’s Athletic have already banked almost €30,000 in World Cup payments - with much more to come Shamrock Rovers and St Patrick’s Athletic are banking on their stars going deep into this summer’s World Cup.
An expanded programme has been put in place for the 2026 tournament, which sees any club whose player participated in World Cup qualification get a payment. But for those clubs with players at the finals, the amount of money keeps growing each day that they are at the tournament. The clock started ticking on Monday, 10 days before the tournament opener between co-hosts Mexico and South Africa.
The amount per day that clubs are to receive is expected to be slightly higher than the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, when the figure was $10,950-per-player-per-day . FIFA have swelled the Club Benefits Programme kitty from $209million in 2018 and 2022 to $355million for this summer’s finals. Much of the additional money will be swallowed up by the inclusion of qualification matches and the widening of the tournament from 32 teams to 48.
The scheme has been in operation since the 2010 World Cup and in the last edition in Qatar payments were made to 440 clubs across 51 member nations. Manchester City were the biggest recipients, as they received $4.6million . If Ghana get eliminated in the group stages, their campaign will end against Croatia on June 27, while for Cape Verde the date of their final group stage game against Saudi Arabia is June 26.
That means both clubs will clear €260,000 at a minimum, with the money continuing to roll in if their players reach the knockout stages. Lopes was a regular for Cape Verde as they topped their group ahead of Cameroon, while Anang received his first call-up last year. FIFA president Gianni Infantino explained the increase both in funding and in the clubs entitled to a share of the money.
He said: “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.
“A record $355million 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. ”ECA Chairman Nasser Al-Khelaïfi said: “At ECA we are pleased to have collaborated with FIFA to support the development of this innovative new FIFA Club Benefits Programme.
“It will ensure even more clubs across the world are rewarded for releasing players and highlights exactly how ECA’s Memorandum of Understanding with FIFA supports the ongoing growth of the global club game. “Clubs play a pivotal role in the success of national team football and this initiative recognises every element of it, from early development through to release for the most important games.
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