Europe's top-flight clubs in line for $125m share of Club World Cup pot
Europe's top-flight clubs that missed the Club World Cup will share $125 million from the tournament's solidarity pot.
FIFA and European Football Clubs are close to agreement on a 50-50 split of the $250 million (£185 million) fund between clubs in Europe and clubs in the rest of the world, according to The Guardian. The wait has been long. The money has yet to be paid out more than a year after last summer's tournament.
Solidarity payments are FIFA's way of sharing wealth beyond the teams that take part. In this case the cash is earmarked for clubs that did not play in the expanded 32-team Club World Cup staged in the United States in 2025.
Part of Europe's $125 million share will go to every top-division club that missed the tournament. The amount each club receives will vary with the number of seasons it spent in its country's top flight between 2021 and 2024. An extra slice will reward performance in UEFA club competitions, the continental tournaments led by the Champions League, over the same three-year span, as long as the club was not at the Club World Cup.
European Football Clubs, the body that represents the continent's clubs, had pushed for just over 60% of the global pot for its members. It has settled for half. The fund can only be distributed once the deal with FIFA is ratified.
That process is now moving. European Football Clubs holds its general assembly in Copenhagen on Tuesday, with FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafström expected among the delegates. The FIFA council then meets in Zurich on 15 October, after which the agreement is likely to be confirmed.
The sums at the top were huge. Chelsea banked an £84 million payout as winners from £740 million set aside as prize money. Manchester City were also paid for taking part, but other English clubs were still waiting for the promised solidarity cash when The Times reported on the delay in early August.
The talks follow months of friction. In August, The Guardian reported that Europe's leading clubs had threatened not to play in future Club World Cups unless FIFA president Gianni Infantino dropped his FIFA Forward Enterprise plan. An earlier Guardian report in February had set out the expectation that non-participants would receive solidarity payments.
For fans, this means money filtering a little further down the pyramid. It will not match a winner's cheque. For a club that has fought to stay in the top division for three seasons, or punched above its weight in Europe, it could still pay for a player, a stand upgrade or breathing room on the books.
