Jeff Kassouf
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- Jeff Kassouf covers women’s soccer for ESPN, focusing on the USWNT and NWSL. In 2009, he founded The Equalizer, a women’s soccer news outlet, and previously won a Sports Emmy at NBC Sports and Olympics.
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The U.S. men received $16 million in prize money from FIFA to advance to the round of 16 of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, where the Americans lost 4-1 to Belgium.
The prize money will be divided equally between the 26 men on the U.S. squad and the 26 women who will be on the U.S. squad for the 2027 Women’s World Cup next year, assuming the Americans qualify.
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Men’s and women’s players will share World Cup prize money equally under collective bargaining agreements that US Soccer ratified with both national teams in 2022. These agreements were ratified after the women’s national team publicly fought and sued US Soccer for equal pay for nearly six years.
Under the CBAs, US Soccer retains 20% of each World Cup’s prize money, with the remaining 80% split equally between the male and female players included in their respective World Cup rosters. That 40% equates to $6.4 million per team and $246,153.85 per player.
The same distribution between the federations and the men’s and women’s national teams also applies to the prize money collected by the United States for the 2027 Women’s World Cup – with some restrictions, of course.
The first and most obvious point of clarification is that the U.S. women must first qualify for the 2027 World Cup. Although this is widely accepted as a given for the four-time world champions, they still need to beat El Salvador in the Concacaf quarter-finals on November 27.
Second, the aforementioned payout per player should increase slightly (again, assuming the US women qualify).
The collective bargaining agreement requires the association to pay men’s player awards within 31 days of US Soccer receiving the money from FIFA.
However, because the U.S. women still have to qualify for the World Cup and the 26 players on that roster won’t be confirmed until next spring, the $6.4 million the players are owed will be transferred to an interest-bearing account, according to the CBAs.
Scores of U.S. fans flocked to support the men’s team on their way to the round of 16 at this summer’s World Cup. Getty Images
Interest earned on that money would then be split equally between the 52 World Cup players (26 men this year and 26 women next year), as would the prize money earned by the U.S. women in 2027. All of this would have to be paid by US Soccer within 31 days of the federation receiving payment from FIFA for the 2027 Women’s World Cup.
Total prize money for the 2027 Women’s World Cup is also yet to be confirmed.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has previously stated his intention to achieve equal prize money for men and women by the 2027 World Cup. These comments came before the dramatic increase in prize money at this year’s expanded men’s edition, which almost doubled compared to four years ago (although the total number of teams also increased from 32 to 48).
The 2023 Women’s World Cup paid out a total of $110 million, up from $30 million in 2019.
All of this is just FIFA prize money.
U.S. Soccer pays both its male and female players $10,000 per World Cup game, regardless of the outcome.
Had the U.S. men beat Belgium on Monday and reached the quarterfinals, they would have received $20 million in prize money, leaving $8 million each for the men’s and women’s national teams.
The U.S. men last reached the quarterfinals at the 2002 World Cup.
The U.S. women were eliminated in the round of 16 for the first time in 2023, having finished third or better at every previous World Cup. The FIFA reward for this goal in 2023 was $1.87 million.
The U.S. women have won four world championships, including back-to-back titles in 2015 and 2019. The 2019 title came in the middle of their six-year dispute with the federation.
Prize money for each team in the 2026 Men’s World Cup has been increased from the amount originally announced in December, a FIFA spokesperson confirmed to ESPN. Additional funding was announced in April following the FIFA Congress in Vancouver, although the exact updated prize money amounts were not explicitly announced at the time.
ESPN confirmed that the updated prize totals for the 2026 Men’s World Cup are as follows:
winner: $51 million
Second: $34 million
3rd place: $30 million
4th place: $28 million
5th-8th Place: $20 million
9th-16th Place: $16 million
17th-32nd Place: $12 million
33.-48. Place: $10 million
ESPN writer Jeff Carlisle contributed to this report.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/49301582/us-men-women-get-equal-split-16m-world-cup-prize
