Manchester City are set to be paid the highest bonus of any club by FIFA for sending players to the World Cup.
The Premier League champions sent 16 stars to the tournament, representing nine different countries. All but Julian Alvarez have returned home, with the striker still with Argentina as they prepare for the World Cup final on Sunday.
As a result of nine of their players progressing to at least the quarter-finals, City are in line to receive the biggest compensation payment of any club in the world. FIFA distribute a £169million Club Benefits Programme fund in return for clubs sending their stars to the tournament.
It works out as roughly £8,100 a day for each player who is at the World Cup, as well as the week building up to it. According to The Times, City will be given a payment of £4.5m, far ahead of any of the Premier League rivals.
It is also ahead of Barcelona, who sent 17 players to the tournament in Qatar, one more than City. But eight of those stars were in the Spain squad who crashed out in stunning fashion in the last 16.
For each player who reaches the group stage, clubs can apply for a £145,000 payment from FIFA. That payment rises to £177,500 for those who reach the last 16, £226,000 for the quarter-finals, £258,000 for the semi-finals and £298,500 for reaching the final.
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FIFA will payout for all the players at the tournament, regardless of whether they played any minutes or not. If a player has been at a club for less than two years though, the payments are shared with their former team.
With England, Portugal, the Netherlands and Argentina having reached at least the quarter-finals, City are in line for a bumper pay packet. Their £4.5m payment puts them far ahead of Manchester United, who will receive £2.92m, Chelsea, who will get £2.47m and Tottenham, who will be sent £2.33m.
Arsenal and Liverpool earned the lowest of the Big Six teams and will be handed payments of £2.11m and £1.55m respectively. The policy of making these payments began for the 2010 World Cup.
In that tournament, there was a fund of £32.2m, but that rose to £169m for the past two tournaments after an agreement between FIFA and the European Club Association.
An agreement is yet to be reached for the 2026 tournament, where there will be 416 extra players as a result of the rise in competing teams from 32 to 48. City had five players in the England squad that were knocked out by France in the quarter-finals.
They also had three in the Portugal team that were stunningly dumped out at the same stage by Morocco. Their final player to reach the last eight was Nathan Ake with the Netherlands.
But all eyes at City will now be on Alvarez, who has starred for Argentina since becoming their first-choice striker in the final group game. A win over Croatia, in which Alvarez scored twice, has sent La Albiceleste into the final, where they will face France.
