FIFA’s new flagship Club World Cup takes place in June and July 2025 across different cities in the United States.
The expanded tournament will see not only the champions of the six different FIFA confederations but major clubs from across the globe competing in a 32-team tournament — one that will largely mirror the format of the traditional World Cup for national teams.
The likes of Real Madrid, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea will be involved, along with MLS franchises Inter Miami and the Seattle Sounders. That means we could see Lionel Messi facing some of Europe’s biggest clubs at least one more time before his storied career comes to an end.
Yet the competition has met plenty of opposition. Professionals in the game have expressed concern about the strain being placed on players by introducing another expanded tournament, and with sponsorship agreements still being pursued by FIFA, it is not entirely clear yet where a lot of the necessary funding will come from.
That said, FIFA has confirmed a total prize fund of $1 billion and insisted none of this will end up in the governing body’s own coffers, so teams will apparently stand to earn a fortune simply by taking part.
If they win the whole thing, it could represent a huge windfall.
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Club World Cup 2025 prize money: How much do winners make?
According to FIFA’s own release, the winning team at the Club World Cup stands to earn a maximum of $125 million if they win all their games.
That is only around $6m less than Real Madrid received for winning the 2023/24 UEFA Champions League, so the Club World Cup could be a lucrative month indeed if these are the sort of financial rewards available.
How much can teams win at Club World Cup?
Team earnings are based on how they perform and what part of the world they represent. You can see a full breakdown here.
The winners of the whole tournament can earn a maximum of $125m, while the very least a team will pocket is $3.58m — the sum on offer to Oceania’s representative, Auckland City, for simply turning up.
The two finalists will play a match worth $70m in prize money — $40m to the winners, $30m to the runners-up — making it the single most lucrative game of football in existence.
What is the Club World Cup “solidarity” investment?
Along with the staggering prize fund on offer, FIFA also confirmed “an unprecedented solidarity investment programme” worth $250m.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino did not offer specifics on what this programme will look like when the tournament prize money was announced, but he did state that it would “undoubtedly provide a significant boost in our ongoing efforts in making football truly global”.
FIFA has vowed that none of the tournament revenue will be used to inflate its own cash reserves and will instead be “distributed to club football”. So, while details on how this solidarity investment programme will be used, there are assurances that the money will be used solely to ‘grow the game’.
