US men’s team made it to the last-16 for the first timeImage Credit source: Getty Images
The excitement of the Football World Cup is at its peak and now the FIFA World Cup 2026 is very close to its end. 40 out of 48 teams that started the tournament have been eliminated and now the quarter-final round is about to begin between only 8 teams. But the host country of the tournament, America, will not play in this because its team was eliminated after losing in the round of 16 itself. However, despite the end of the World Cup journey, the US Men’s National Team (USMNT) will get Rs 152 crore as reward. But the special thing is that this reward will also be distributed among the players of America’s women’s team.
This time, the teams of Canada, America and Mexico, which are hosting the World Cup, reached the last-16 round. All these three teams were eliminated together after losing in this round. Despite this, according to the rules, every team participating in the tournament gets some amount of money as a reward. Then these three teams reached the pre-quarter finals. In such a situation, they also got a good amount of money. Now the prizes for Canada and Mexico have not been revealed but the amount to be received by USMNT has been revealed.
According to American media reports, a total of 16 million dollars (Rs 152.87 crore) will be given to the USA team by FIFA as a reward. But this money will not only be distributed among the 26 players participating in this World Cup, but it will also be divided and exactly half will also be given to the US Women’s Football Team (USWNT).
This is surprising because usually the prize money received by a team participating in any sport is distributed among the players of the team. But the story of the American football team is different. Here, the prize money received from the World Cup is divided equally between both the teams, whether it is the prize money of the Women’s World Cup or the earnings of the Men’s World Cup.
The reason for this is the legal battle of the US women’s team, which it fought against the American football organization, US Soccer. For almost 6 years, the women’s team had fought a legal battle against US Soccer regarding equal pay. After this, in 2022, US Soccer had made an agreement with the women’s and men’s teams, in which equal sharing of the prize was agreed upon. Under this, the money received from any World Cup is distributed among the 26 players of the team participating in the next World Cup (in this case Women’s World Cup 2027).
Now if we talk about the amount received by each player, there is another aspect to it also. Under the agreement between the two teams and US Soccer, 20 percent of the prize money from each World Cup goes to US Soccer and the remaining 80 percent is divided equally between the two teams. In this sense, 20 percent of the $16 million i.e. $3.2 million will go to US Soccer, while out of the remaining $12.8 million, each team will get $6.4 million (Rs 61.15 crore). In this way, $246,153 i.e. Rs 2.35 crore will come into the account of every player.
