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Manchester City are likely to top the list of distributions to clubs under FIFA’s Club Benefits Programme (CBP) for the third World Cup in succession, calculations from The Athletic have found.

To go alongside the largest World Cup in history, FIFA will also share out more money than ever before to clubs that release players for participation. The CBP pot for 2026 sits at $355million (£265m), a 70 per cent increase on the $209m paid to clubs whose players competed in each of the past two World Cups, in Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022.

Of that $355million, $250m will be allocated in respect of players who performed at this summer’s engorged, 48-team finals. Unlike in previous iterations, FIFA are also rewarding clubs that released players for qualifiers, too, with $100m allocated there. The remaining $5m, or whatever is left after administrative costs related to implementing the programme, will “be allocated to the benefit of club football”.

The Athletic’s calculations cover that primary $250million tranche of payments and find, just as in 2018 and 2022, Manchester City come out on top. We estimate their representation at the 2026 finals has earned them $4.4million (£3.3m).

FIFA pays out on the basis of how many days finals participants are at the competition, with clubs entitled to roughly $5,000 per day, per player, between the mandatory release date of May 25 and the day after their national team’s last match in the competition. City benefited from six players making it to the World Cup’s final weekend: Rayan Cherki, Marc Guehi, Nico O’Reilly, John Stones and James Trafford were each present in Miami for Saturday’s third-place play-off between France and England, while Rodri started in Spain’s 1-0 win against Argentina in the final on Sunday.

The world’s already richest clubs pepper the top of the list — Barcelona, second four years ago, are also second in our estimate — which stands to reason given it is their players who are most likely to feature on the world stage.

By our reckoning, City earned over $1million more than the next highest-earning English club, Arsenal, though that was impacted by the latter reaching the Champions League final. That took place on May 30, five days after the mandatory release date; clubs playing in cup finals were, quite rightly, allowed to release players later, though that naturally reduced their CBP earnings. We reckon Arsenal’s figure would have been almost $500,000 higher in other circumstances, but of course, they earned much more than that from reaching European club football’s showpiece.

We found it was not just the usual English suspects high up the list. Crystal Palace, with 12 players at these finals, were the Premier League’s third-highest earners ($2.7million) by our calculation; Sunderland, whose players scored eight goals this summer, a mark only four clubs topped, were the sixth-highest in England and 13th-highest overall ($2.2m).

Premier League clubs contributed around 13 per cent of this summer’s 1,248 players, more than any other division in world football and, correspondingly, hoovered up more money than anywhere else. We estimate the 2026-27 Premier League crop will receive $34.2million from the CBP, well ahead of the next-highest: Germany’s Bundesliga, with $18.8m.

Yet even as the richest clubs enjoy the largest share of the spoils, the amounts they receive will pale in comparison to the cost of employing the same players who’ve generated those sums. City’s $4.4million might top everyone else, but it is a fairly paltry sum when set alongside a full club wage bill in 2024-25 of around $608m (£468m).

In 2018, The Economist found the biggest clubs were significantly underpaid by the CBP relative to the cost of employing players over the time they were away at the World Cup.

The Athletic’s calculations should serve as a good guide, but are unlikely to be perfect.

One complicating factor is those instances where players moved clubs during the tournament. Take England winger Anthony Gordon. He completed a move to Barcelona, which was announced on May 29, meaning Newcastle United held his registration for less than a week after the mandatory release date. We have adjusted allocations for several high-profile transfers during this World Cup, but The Athletic’s figures will not have captured them all.

A further muddying of matters arises from players who did not feature in this World Cup but were intended to. Players initially released but then replaced, usually by injury, will generate money for the clubs, as will their replacements. Arsenal’s Jurrien Timber, replaced by RB Leipzig’s Lutsharel Geertruida in the Netherlands’ squad, was one such instance. Again, we’ve adjusted wherever possible but, with fees paid out based on dates and it not always clear when a player was replaced, there’s every chance our estimate isn’t 100 per cent accurate.

And, of course, there’s that $100million qualifying pot.

As mentioned, FIFA has introduced significant nuance to the programme this time around, rewarding clubs not just for their players’ participation in this summer’s finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico but also for any player who was selected in a matchday squad for any of the 905 qualifying games that determined the 48 participating teams this June and July. On top of that, clubs of those who were named in squads for the three host countries in their 10 friendlies before this summer’s finals will also receive payment.

That translates to 42,320 individual allocations to be made across pre-finals games alone, with the $100million of that $355m CBP pot apportioned to qualifying participation working out at $2,362 per player, per match. Due to limitations on available data, The Athletic has not been able to generate a reliable estimate of how that $100m will be apportioned.

FIFA have disclosed a full breakdown of payments following each of the last two World Cups, and are expected to again in 2026. That will, however take some time; clubs have until September 10 to review a preliminary list of relevant players on FIFA’s own platform, which must then be reviewed by member associations by October 31. Thereafter, FIFA will conduct its own review before paying out.

Wherever the full $355million winds up, it is a safe bet that, just as before, the lion’s share will go to European clubs. UEFA teams earned 76 per cent of each of the 2018 and 2022 pots, and we project they’ll take home the majority of the $250m allocated on the back of this summer’s finals too.

Our estimate puts the European take at 70 per cent which, while still far beyond any other confederation, is a noticeable drop from four years ago.

The fall is explained in large part by FIFA’s expansion of this summer’s tournament to 48 national teams. In comparison to Qatar 2022, just three of this year’s extra 16 sides hailed from Europe, meaning 13 were drawn from other confederations, including five from CAF in Africa.

While that doesn’t mean individuals for the new entrants all play for club sides in their home nation’s confederation, it has brought more clubs into the fold than previously. We count 451 clubs among those due a payout from this summer, up from 440 in 2022. A total of 175 of the clubs we believe are in line for a 2026 CBP payment are from non-UEFA confederations, with the Asian Football Confederation leading the way (73 clubs).

That number will surely grow once the $100million qualifier pot is divvied up, though so too will the take of the elite clubs, whose players were plenty present in the two-year build-up to this summer’s extravaganza.

The scale of the 2026 World Cup and the revenues it has generated meant FIFA had to increase the amounts payable to clubs whose players ultimately produced the product on the pitch. The already rich reap the most, though the thin spreading of payments means the payouts are relatively miserly for the game’s elite. Not least when their players have generally had to spend even longer away than usual due to the enlarged tournament, and in often soaring temperatures too.

Europe’s big five divisions, as ever, top another monetary list, but there is at least a spread of recipients beyond that. We estimate $149million of the $250m finals pot will go to 784 different clubs across 100 different leagues.

For some, even at what look like low levels, the money will make a difference. Braintree Town, currently playing in England’s sixth tier, were placed under a transfer embargo as recently as May due to financial troubles, but will be one of the lowest-ranked beneficiaries of this year’s CBP payouts. The inclusion of their 36-year-old defender Tommy Smith in the New Zealand squad has generated, we reckon, around $171,000 (£127,000) for the non-League club.

It will be much welcomed.