FIFA to distribute $209M to worldwide clubs who released players for World Cup

By Emre Asikci

ISTANBUL (AA) - FIFA will distribute $209 million to football sides that released their internationals to play in the 2022 Qatar World Cup.

"FIFA will distribute a total of $209 million following the release of 837 footballers for a rounded per player daily amount of $10,950, regardless of how many minutes they played during the tournament," the world football body said in a statement.

"The total per player is divided and distributed to the club(s) with which the player was registered in the two years leading up to the final competition. As per standard procedure, FIFA will distribute the amounts via the member associations to which the relevant clubs are affiliated," FIFA added.

FIFA also said that among the 440 football sides that will receive a share of the funds following the Qatar 2022 are a number of lower-tier teams, including 78 second-tier sides, 13 third-division clubs, five fourth-tier teams, and one fifth-tier outfit.

England are at the top of the FIFA list of leagues receiving payments from World Cup revenues for releasing players for national team duty in Qatar.

The English Football Association got $37.7 million from the total fund of $209 million, Spain are in second place with $24.2 million, and Germany came third with $21.3 million in total revenue.

Manchester City collected nearly $4.596 million from FIFA to top the list of club payments from the World Cup player fund, Barcelona are next with $4.538 million, and Bayern Munich are third with $4.331 million.