FIFA has increased the compensation clubs receive for releasing their players for World Cups. The International Football Association announced this on Monday via their website.
FIFA increases compensation for clubs that release players for the World Cup
In recent World Cups, FIFA has worked with a compensation scheme to accommodate clubs for releasing their players. At the 2018 World Cup in Russia and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, FIFA made a pot of more than 193 million euros available to compensate clubs. That amount will be increased for the upcoming World Cups in 2026 and 2030.
The total compensation will then amount to 329 million euros. In addition, FIFA also announced that the FIFA Council and the European Club Association (ECA) have approved the competition format for the 2026 World Cup. During that world championship, 48 countries will compete in twelve groups of four to reach the knockout phase. The numbers one, two and the eight best numbers three advance to the next round.
La Liga takes a hard line against FIFA: ‘Total contempt’
FIFA’s plans for the new structure of the World Cup and the World Cup for clubs have certainly not gone down well with the Spanish league.
A statement from La Liga speaks of “utter disregard” of the football community. They said on Tuesday that the 2026 World Cup will be 104 matches, down from 64, and revealed plans for a 32-team World Cup for clubs.
“FIFA continues its malpractice of making unilateral decisions about the world football calendar,” the statement read. “FIFA shows total disregard for the importance of national competitions, and the football community in general.”
It further added, “FIFA is completely ignoring the economic damage these decisions are causing to federations around the world. The unions have not been consulted on the proposed changes. These decisions fail to take into account the competitive, sporting and economic impact on national leagues, clubs and players, further bottling up an already overburdened schedule. FIFA only takes into account a small group of clubs and players.”
FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s third term was made official on Thursday. The Swiss Italian was re-elected for the second time at a FIFA congress in Rwanda.
