FIFA will pay out $440 million in prize money for the 2022 men’s World Cup, currently being held in the smallest-ever host country of Qatar. The winning team will take home $42 million, but payouts aren’t limited to the top performers: With its win Tuesday over Iran, the U.S. Men’s National Team advanced out of the group stage and on to the round of 16, and in doing so secured a guaranteed $13 million, more than $5.8 million of which will be distributed to the U.S. Women’s National Team.
The $13 million payday is more than three times what the women’s team took home for winning the entirety of the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France; even the $5.85 million cut is more than the $4 million it earned for winning that tournament. The women’s share of what’s been won so far in Qatar is the result of U.S. Soccer’s most recent national team CBAs, now on full display just months after the agreements were ratified.
FIFA prize money disparities were a focal point in the women’s team’s six-year legal battle for equal pay. The CBAs agreed to this summer by both the men’s and women’s players’ associations were constructed to equalize salaries and bonuses, pooling all U.S. World Cup earnings and splitting a portion equally among the two squads. Players on both rosters will earn an equal percentage of the sum total of the prize money the men’s team earns this year plus that earned by the USWNT at the 2023 Women’s World Cup. 10% of the combined prize money will go to U.S. Soccer, and the remaining 90% will be shared equally between the men’s and women’s teams. A similar structure will apply to the 2026 men’s and 2027 women’s World Cups, but with U.S. Soccer’s cut increasing to 20%.
The men’s team’s minimum $13 million payday more than doubles the $6 million the women’s team earned in total prize money from two consecutive victories at their most recent World Cups—and now will be incorporated into U.S. Soccer’s total payout pool.
Even if the men’s team had failed to advance, the women’s team still would’ve won financially. As soon as they qualified for Qatar, the men’s team was guaranteed at least $9 million, the amount paid to teams that finish in places 17 through 32. Elimination in the group stage of the men’s World Cup still earns participants more than twice as much as the USWNT earned in 2019 with its 2-0 win over the Netherlands in the final.
FIFA has articulated plans to at least double the prize money awarded during next year’s women’s World Cup to $60 million, making the winner’s share around $8 million if the champion’s percentage of the total pot remains the same. That would still be less than what the last place men’s team will earn in Qatar. (In 2019, the USWNT’s $4 million prize was around 13% of the $30 million in prize money; the $2 million split among the squad in 2015 for its victory was the same share of that year’s $15 million pool. In 2007 and 2011, $1 million was distributed to the winners. Prior to that, the women’s tournament received no prize money from FIFA.)
Even if the women’s prize pool were more than tripled to $100 million, as was floated as a possibility by a FIFA spokesperson this summer, the first-place finishers’ share would still sit around $13 million, roughly the same as for the men’s round of 16 participants.
This year’s pooled payout will likely be slightly less than USMNT players would have earned under the prior CBA. For example, if the men’s team exits in the round of 16, and the women’s team were to win its tournament next year, estimating an $8 million payout and accounting for U.S. Soccer’s portion, $18.9 million would be split between the two teams, good for about $9.45 million apiece. Without the pooling and equal sharing, the men’s team would’ve taken home the bulk of the nearly $13 million it earned from its individual performance.
The further the men’s team advances (those who advance past the round of 16 and to the quarterfinals at this year’s World Cup, for example, earn $17 million each), the greater the gap becomes between what they would’ve earned previously and will now take home under the new terms. But the shared earnings in the current CBA will have helped the squad in World Cup cycles such as 2018, where the USMNT failed to qualify, thus earning no bonus money at all.
