Football stars cash in at Russia showpiece
CAF guarantees avert disputes amid rocketing bounty
Many players who have lifted the Fifa World Cup trophy have described the moment as priceless.
However, winning a cup competition in modern-day football is no longer just about the glory as the feat comes with huge financial rewards.
The prized 18-carat gold trophy is not the only thing at stake at the ongoing Fifa World Cup, but a whopping $38-million (R509-million) first prize purse also awaits the champions. The runners-up will get $28-million.
Fifa confirmed late last year that the 32 nations participating in Russia will share $400million in total prize.
Third place is good enough for $24-million, fourth spot $22-million, 5th-8th place $16million, 9th-16th place $12million and 17th-32nd place $8-million.
The latest bounty on offer is a significant increase from four years ago when champions Germany were paid $35million and runners-up Argentina claimed $25-million.
Performance-based bonus payments will be at the discretion of each football federation.
Germany, who start the defence of their title against Mexico on Sunday, revealed their incentive structure late last year, where they announced that their players stand to net ß8-million (about R125-million) if they retain the trophy.
This translates to a R5.4-million bonus for each member of their 23-man squad.
Africa’s five representatives in Russia – Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia – also received financial guarantees before the tournament kicked off, albeit more to avert potential disputes that often bedevil the continent’s teams at the World Cup.
CAF last month secured $2million (R25-million) advance from Fifa, which CAF president Ahmad Ahmad said would be used “to settle, beforehand, the question of bonuses due the players”.
In another first, CAF also paid its World Cup teams a $2.5-million grant each to prepare for the global tournament.