According to information provided to several international media outlets, the board of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) is expected to make a decision late Tuesday evening, Swedish time, to increase the compensation for the 48 national teams in the Men's World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
"We've heard it through rumors, but I haven't received any confirmation," Niclas Carlnén, general secretary of the Swedish Football Association, told TT on his way to the FIFA congress in Vancouver.
“Lots of uncertainties”
According to NTB, several European federations have joined forces to demand changes from FIFA. Discussions about raising the compensation level have reportedly been ongoing for a long time among the twelve European countries that qualified directly for the World Cup – Sweden and three other national teams only secured their places at the end of March via playoffs. However, the Swedish federation has received information about the discussions.
"We don't have a different view than others," Carlnén said.
What is the fundamental problem with the current compensation level?
"I think it's a little different from nation to nation, but the overall point is that we know that there are higher costs during this championship," Carlnén said and continued:
"And there are a lot of uncertainties, like taxes and other issues in the U.S., that we are working on sorting out. Added to that are inflation and, to some extent, currency effects."
Both Canada and Mexico have guaranteed tax exemptions for participating countries, but the United States has not agreed to anything similar, according to The Guardian. In addition, there are different tax rates in the American states that host World Cup matches.
Sweden will play its World Cup opener against Tunisia in Monterrey, Mexico. The other two matches will be played in Texas - the Netherlands in Houston and Japan in Dallas.
Including 26 players, the federation expects to send a delegation of around 60 people. The national team is based in Dallas.
“Not reasonable”
"As I understand it, the conditions are better in Mexico and Canada. The net amount left over for the countries is then different depending on which playing spot you have been assigned. And that in itself is not reasonable either," Carlnén said.
If there are only three group stage matches for Sweden, the association is guaranteed $10.5 million with the current payout from FIFA - which at today's exchange rate corresponds to just under 97 million kronor.
The net income will be different - subject to all uncertainties.
"We thought before that it would be 25, but we see that it is probably lower than that. It will probably be around 20 million," Carlnén said.
In December, the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) decided to allocate a record 6.7 billion kronor ($727 million) in the prize money for the participating teams in the tournament (June 11 - July 19) in the United States, Canada and Mexico. However, compared to previous editions, the World Cup has been expanded from 32 to 48 national teams.
The bulk of the money goes to prize money - just over six billion kronor ($655 million). Each participating national team is also guaranteed 13.8 million kronor ($1.5 million) in so-called preparation money.
Payouts (rounded) per national team depending on placement:
World Champion: 460 million Swedish kronor (50 million U.S. dollars).
Silver: 304 million (33).
Bronze: 267 million (29).
Four: 249 million (27).
Ranking 5–8: 175 million (19).
Position 9–16: 138 million (15).
Ranking 17–32: 101 million (11).
Ranking 33–48: 83 million (9).
Footnote: The report is based on the exchange rate from April 28, 2026.
Source: FIFA
