Fifa boosts prize money to 400m for 2018 World Cup participants
>> KOLKATA: The 32 national teams competing at the 2018 World Cup will share US$400 million (approximately 13.3 billion baht) in prize money, a 12 percent increase from the 2014 tournament, Fifa said yesterday.
The purse at the previous edition in Brazil was $358 million (12 billion baht) — $35 million (1.17 billion baht) of which was awarded to champions Germany, with runners-up Argentina pocketing $25 million (835 million baht).
By contrast, countries who failed to advance beyond the group stage received $8 million (267 million baht).
At a meeting of the Fifa council in Kolkata chaired by Fifa president Gianni Infantino, world football’s governing body also approved a decision to enhance the bidding regulations for the 2026 World Cup and appointed members of the bid evaluation task force.
Dates for several upcoming Fifa tournaments, including next year’s Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates and the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France, were also confirmed.
The 2018 Club World Cup will run from Dec 12-22, while the Women’s World Cup in 2019 is scheduled to start on June 7 with the final to take place on July 7.
The U17 World Cup final today between England and Spain will break an attendance record for the tournament and has convinced the Indian hosts to step up their bid for the U20 World Cup in 2019.
Organisers said they expect a sellout crowd of 67,000 in Kolkata and hope the third-place play-off earlier in the day will also be packed.
The tournament has already drawn 1.22 million spectators and only needs a few thousand to beat the aggregate 1.23 million who went to the precursor U16 World Cup in China in 1985.
Two full houses at the Salt Lake Stadium today could see India overtake the 1.3 million who went to the U20 World Cup in Colombia in 2011. The tournament has been marked by big attendances even though India lost all three of their group games.
All India Football Federation president Praful Patel said he was “extremely delighted” at the public turnout. “We have bid for the U20 World Cup to be held in 2019,” he said.
A decision on the 2019 tournament is expected to be made in early 2018.