Canada’s early elimination from the Women’s World Cup will not help Canada Soccer’s financial results as much as it no doubt hoped.
According to FIFA, participating member associations whose teams do not survive the group stage each receive $1.56 million from the world governing body to “support the development of football in their country”.
This amount increases to $1.87 million for the Round of 16, $2.18 million for the Quarter-Finals, $2.45 million for Fourth Place, $2.61 million for the third place, $3,015 million for second place, and $4.29 million for overall victory.
FIFA offers a range of base payments per athlete from $30,000 for those leaving the competition after the group stage to $270,000 per player on the champion team.
Some federations have their own payout structure in place, so actual player payouts differ. The Canadians have reached an interim agreement with Canada Soccer while in Australia which covers compensation for 2023 and the tournament. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
In addition to the prizes, each of the 32 participating teams received some US$960,000 as preparation money for the tournament.
FIFA compensation is paid to Canada Soccer and not to Canadian Soccer Business, which handles marketing and sponsorship.
FIFA notes that the US$152 million total compensation for this year’s women’s tournament, which includes prize money, preparation payments for the 32 teams and compensation paid to clubs, is three times higher than what was offered four years ago in France and more than 10 times what was offered at the 2015 tournament in Canada.
But this amount remains well below what men receive.
The total prize pool from last year’s tournament in Qatar, which featured 32 countries, was $440 million. Teams that failed to make it through the group stage like Canada—those that finished between 17th and 32nd—received $9 million each.
Argentina, as the winner, received US$42 million in prize money.
The Canadian players, who are also in a labor dispute with Canada Soccer, say they have yet to receive any money from Qatar.
In addition, the 32 participating men’s teams received US$1.5 million before the tournament to cover preparation costs.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has said the goal of world football’s governing body is to have equal prize money for the men’s and women’s World Cups in 2026 and 2027.
