USA’s World Cup stars earned $16 million in prize money for reaching the last-16 but must split it equally with the women’s team.
The figure will be split between the 26 men on the World Cup roster and the 26 women who are selected to play in next year’s Women’s World Cup, if they qualify.
The men’s and women’s team share World Cup prize money equally under terms of the collective bargaining agreement that was signed back in 2022.
The deal was signed off after almost six years of campaigning and legal action by the women’s team, the four-time world champions, in an effort to secure equal pay.
The U.S. Soccer governing body, which pays men’s and women’s players $10,000 per World Cup match, will also keep 20 per cent of the prize money from this year’s tournament.
The remaining 80 per cent will then be divided between the men’s and women’s players who make their respective World Cup rosters.
USA’s World Cup stars earned $16m in prize money but must split it with the women’s team
World Cup prize money is split equally under terms of the collective bargaining agreement
On this occasion, that 40 per cent equates to $6.4m per team or $246,153.85 per player. That same division of prize funds will come into place again for any prize money the women’s team picks up at the 2027 Women’s World Cup.
When the USWNT was eliminated in the last-16 at the 2023 World Cup, they got just $1.87m from FIFA.
The prize money for next year’s Women’s World Cup has not yet been announced but FIFA chief Gianni Infantino has declared he wants to make men’s and women’s prize money the same by the 2027 World Cup.
A human rights group said on Wednesday that it would be referring Infantino to Olympic ethics investigators for a possible breach of political neutrality.
It comes after President Donald Trump helped block star striker Folarin Balogun’s ban to ensure he could play in the humiliating 4-1 last-16 defeat by Belgium on Monday.
Trump took credit Monday for FIFA’s decision – unprecedented in modern World Cup history – to let Balogun play despite getting a red card in the team’s previous game.
The IOC cites neutrality among ‘fundamental principles of Olympism’ for sports bodies like FIFA, and has jurisdiction over Infantino since he joined its exclusive group of 100-plus invited members in 2020.
‘FairSquare will file a complaint to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) regarding FIFA President Gianni Infantino´s repeated breach of political neutrality rules,’ the London-based sports and human rights NGO said in a statement Wednesday.
Donald Trump helped block Folarin Balogun’s ban to ensure he could play in the loss to Belgium
The pledge to file a formal complaint to the IOC Ethics Commission came one day after the Olympic body’s president Kirsty Coventry told reporters none had yet been received.
‘Obviously if they do they would look into it,’ Coventry said Tuesday in an online news conference when asked about the Balogun controversy fueled by the Trump administration lobbying FIFA and Infantino.
Infantino has built close ties to Trump since 2018 when the U.S., Canada and Mexico won a vote to host soccer´s World Cup this year.
The FIFA leader has been a regular White House visitor since attending the second Trump inauguration in January 2025 and said in November ‘we should all support’ the president’s work as it was ‘pretty good.’
Infantino famously created the FIFA Peace Prize given to Trump at the World Cup tournament draw in Washington D.C. last December. Senior soccer officials said privately creating the peace award was an executive decision by Infantino.
