By Sharon Osaji
The prize money for participating teams at the 2022 World Cup ongoing in Qatar is a whopping total of $440 million.
The 2022 tournament featured 32 teams from various countries across the globe. 13 countries from Europe, five African teams, four North American countries, four countries from South America and six countries from Asia.
The teams that exited the World Cup at the group stage – Qatar, Ecuador, Wales, Iran, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Denmark, Tunisia, Canada, Belgium, Germany, Costa Rica, Serbia, Cameroon, Ghana, Uruguay – all earned $9 million each
The teams that made it through to the round of 16 – USA, Senegal, Australia, Poland, Spain, Japan, Switzerland, South Korea – all earned $13 million each
While those that reached the quarter-finals -Brazil, Netherlands, Portugal, England – earned $17 million each.
Fourth place team Morocco, earned $25 million.
Third-placed team Croatia earned $27 million.
The runner-up between Argentina or France will earn $30 million, while the 2022 FIFA World Cup winner will earn $42 million.
This is an increase of $40m compared to the 2018 tournament.
Prior to 2006, World Cup-winning teams never pocketed more than $10m, with 1982 champions Italy walking away with an estimated $2.2m for their efforts.
In 2002, there was a big push from national teams for FIFA to increase the prize money on offer. Below are the prize monies won since 1982 up until 2022;
Year Prize money (USD)
2022 $42m
2018 $38m
2014 $35m
2010 $30m
2006 $20m
2002 $8m
1998 $6m
1994 $4m
1990 $3.5m
1986 $2.8m
1982 $2.2m
The tournament will officially come to an end on Sunday (today) December 18, 2022, as holders France will face Argentina for a chance to lift the trophy and win the $42 million grand price.(Punch)
