How FIFA's $1 billion prize for the first Club World Cup stacks up
From soccer’s newest super-tournament to F1’s billion-dollar circuits, the business of championships is booming.
Global governing soccer body FIFA will reportedly award nearly $1 billion in prize money over the next month for its inaugural (and supersized) Club World Cup. That’s a pretty big — and global — financial flex.
Thirty-two teams. More than a dozen nations. And a prize pool that makes even Champions League payouts look like couch change. The Club World Cup is meant to be a showcase of world soccer’s top clubs (and a warm-up act for the expanded 2026 Men’s World Cup), but the real showstopper might be the cash.
That $1 billion figure is the kind that turns heads in locker rooms and boardrooms. In the high-stakes world of professional sports, bragging rights aren’t the only thing up for grabs — prestige may build legacies but payouts build empires. From the pitcher’s mound to the pit lane, champions are now just as likely to leave with generational wealth as they are with a trophy.
And FIFA isn’t playing small. With $475 million reportedly earmarked for match results and another $525 million allocated just the participation pool, the Club World Cup is sending a clear signal: The business of soccer is booming — and it wants a seat at the top of the global sports economy.
So as FIFA prepares to unleash its billion-dollar blitz, the question is: How does that kind of cash stack up against other sports’ biggest prizes? Here’s how the world’s most lucrative championships compare — ranked not by skill, but by cold, hard prize money.
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FIFA's Men's World Cup (2026): $896 million prize pool
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The teams in next summer’s expanded 48-nation tournament will share just shy of a billion dollars in payouts ($896 million), nearly doubling the 2022 pool. But don’t expect players to pocket it all: Prize money goes to national federations, which then decide how much trickles down. FIFA has never been one for equal pay; for comparison, the women’s World Cup in 2023 had a prize pool of just $152 million.
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Formula 1 (2024): $1.27 billion prize pool
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Formula 1’s financial engine revved even higher this season, with a total prize pool estimated around $1.27 billion — the sport’s richest haul yet. F1 splits its massive media revenues and fees based on Constructor standings, and long-time teams can see historical bonuses. Last season, McLaren raked in $161 million, Ferrari brought in $151 million, Red Bull Racing earned $140 million, Mercedes got $130 million, and Aston Martin received $120 million. The sport is fast, furious, and financially flush.
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Super Bowl (2024): $171,000 per player
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The NFL is the world’s most lucrative sports league by revenue, but Super Bowl bonuses are surprisingly modest. Players on the winning team each earn around $171,000 — a tidy sum, but one that can be easily overshadowed by endorsement deals worth multiples of that in a single tweet or Instagram post.
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Wimbledon (2025): £53.5 million prize pool
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Wimbledon offers equal prize money to men and women, with both singles champions set to earn over a record $4 million in 2025. Tennis remains a rare global sport where the gender pay gap in major tournaments has been effectively closed — driven largely by hard work from some of the sports pioneers. This year’s singles champions received $2.3 million from the Australian Open and $2.7 million from Roland Garros; last year’s U.S. Open winners received $3.6 million.
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NBA Playoffs (2025): $35 million prize pool
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NBA players compete not just for rings but for tens of millions in playoff bonuses — about $35 million this season. The 2025 champions, either the Indiana Pacers or the Oklahoma City Thunder, will receive around $9 million to split among its roster. But in a league where max contracts exceed $60 million and sneaker deals can outpace salaries, playoff payouts are more of a cherry on top than a game-changer.
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WNBA Playoffs (2024): $500,000 team bonus
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The WNBA’s postseason prize money may not break the bank — but it shows that the league continues to break through. The 2024 champions, the New York Liberty, earned a $500,000 team bonus to split — a league record and more than double previous years. Individual player bonuses for a title run clock in around $20,000 per player. That’s still a fraction of NBA playoff bonuses, but the league’s media deals and expansion plans suggest bigger checks may soon follow the trophies.
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World Series (2024): $129 million prize pool
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Baseball still hits home when it comes to postseason payouts. The 2024 MLB playoffs delivered a $129 million prize pool, with the Los Angeles Dodgers — last season’s champions — netting roughly $46.5 million to divvy up among players, coaches, and staff. (That amounted to roughly $477,000 per full-share player, depending on team shares allocation.) And with the league’s valuation on the rise, postseason glory is once again worth the grind.
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The Masters (2025): $21 million purse
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For a sport rooted in tradition, Augusta has gone decidedly modern in prize money. The 2025 Masters offered a $21 million purse — the richest ever for the iconic tournament. The green jacket now comes with $4.2 million for the winner (most recently: Rory McIlroy), more than double what Tiger Woods earned for his first Masters win in 1997.
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Women’s Champions League (2025): €24 million prize pool
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The Women’s Champions League may not yet be a financial heavyweight like its men’s counterpart, but it’s stepping into a bigger economic spotlight. For the 2024–25 season, UEFA increased the total prize pot to €24 million, more than doubling what was available just a few years ago. Even more importantly, UEFA has committed to expanding the format and prize money over the next cycle, promising a jump to €46.7 million in the next tournament. The 2025 winners, Arsenal, took home around €1.15–1.36 million, with group-stage and knockout bonuses included.
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Men’s Champions League (2025): $2.9 billion prize pool
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Europe’s top tier just got richer. Total prize money hit roughly €2.7 billion (around $2.9 billion), up about 21% from last season. With fixed bonuses (€18-plus million for qualifying), performance bonuses (up to €85 million in total for the winner), and historical “value pillar” payouts, the most recent winners, Paris Saint Germain, hauled in an estimated €140–155 million.