The revenue for the men's national team's World Cup matches this summer was around 132 million gross, but the net figure looks set to come in at around 25 million kronor.
"It is of course negative for us. It was a championship that was accompanied by higher costs than we normally have," says Simon Åström, chairman of the Swedish Football Association, when he meets TT at the office in Solna.
Some go negative
The prize pot was record-breaking and was increased to a total of 8.5 billion kronor (approximately 870 million dollars) after several national associations complained to FIFA because a large part of the money was expected to be eaten up by taxes.
Overall, the prize money has increased during the championship, but not in a way that compensates for the higher costs. This is primarily due to the fact that the prize money will also be distributed among more teams.
The Men's World Cup in North America was the first with 48 teams - four years earlier in Qatar, 32 national teams participated. According to Åström, several major football nations that went significantly further than Sweden are not even in the top five.
"The larger football nations are investing even more in hotels and facilities," says Åström, adding that these countries also have larger staffs and other bonus agreements for the players.
Bigger money rain in CL
Why doesn't FIFA pump more money into the participating teams when the World Cup is their cash cow?
That's a good question. We've been pushing for that and pointing it out.
SvFF is fundamentally positive that all 211 member associations - regardless of World Cup participation or not - are allowed to share in FIFA's surplus.
But of course it is important that there is also a good prize for the national teams that participate in the championship.
The rain of money on the clubs that participate in the European Football Association's (UEFA) cash cow Champions League (CL) is completely different. During Malmö FF's CL participation in 2014, 2015 and 2021, the Scanian team received a total of 662 million kronor from UEFA.
A comparison with the world's top club tournament is somewhat flawed, however, as it generates large revenues every year. UEFA also has a lucrative men's European Championship every four years, says Åström.
We should also remember that the revenue from the World Cup, which takes place every four years, will basically finance all of FIFA's operations during those four years, he says and continues:
But on the other hand, I naturally think that more money should go to the countries that qualify for the World Cup.
Requires 98 million
UEFA and Concacaf (the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) have now demanded that FIFA make a one-off payment to the 211 member associations. Each nation should receive ten million dollars (98 million kronor) - money to be taken from FIFA's cash reserves, which after this summer's World Cup should amount to around six billion dollars.
A world federation must have money in reserve to be able to handle deviations, but the question is how well-stocked the vault must be, according to the Swedish federation base.
In our opinion, FIFA has an unreasonable amount of money in reserve, says Simon Åström.
The men's national team's place in the round of 16 - 0-3 against France - during this summer's World Cup in North America gave the Swedish Football Association 108 million kronor ($11 million) in prize money.
In addition, each national team received 24.5 million kronor ($2.5 million) in so-called preparation money.
In total, the association brought in 132.5 million SEK gross. The association expects net income to be around 25 million SEK.
In addition to expensive accommodation and travel costs, tax rules affect real income.
Sweden played one group match in Mexico. The other two matches in the group and the round of 16 were played in the United States.
The national team was based in Frisco outside Dallas, Texas, for most of the championship, but changed base and hotel for the knockout match in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Footnote: The report is based on the exchange rate from September 20, 2026.
