World Cup winner to get $50M from richer prize pool, half of Chelsea's payday at Club World Cup

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — The winner of the 2026 World Cup will receive $50 million from a $655 million prize pool, FIFA said Wednesday in announcing record financial rewards for teams in a tournament with ticket prices that have sparked outcries.

The champion's figure is up from $42 million won by Argentina in 2022 and $38 million gained by France in 2018 but less than half of what Chelsea earned for winning the much less-hyped Club World Cup this year.

The total prize fund for the World Cup, staged in the United States, Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19, is up 48.9% from the $440 million for the 2022 tournament in Qatar.

The 2026 total will be nearly six times the $110 million in prize money for the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. FIFA president Gianni Infantino in 2023 set a target of equal prize money for men and women at their next World Cups — the next women's tournament is scheduled for 2027 in Brazil.

The Club World Cup, controversially expanded from seven teams to 32 and shoehorned into the soccer calendar last summer, had a total prize fund of $1 billion. Chelsea won the top prize of up to $125 million for a tournament that faced fierce resistance from players and leagues and drew sparse crowds for some matches.

FIFA has a different distribution model for the national team and club tournaments, with the disparity in prize money reflecting factors such as clubs with higher wage costs than national teams.

Beyond prize money, further funds are put toward development of soccer globally.

Infantino said the World Cup will be “groundbreaking in terms of its financial contribution to the global football community.”

In Europe, the Champions League also has a much bigger top prize than the European Championship for national teams. The maximum winnings for last year's Euros were 28.5 million euros ($33.5 million). Real Madrid picked up around $154 million for winning the Champions League in the same year. Both competitions are run by European soccer’s governing body UEFA.

FIFA approved the prize money for the World Cup at a meeting of its council in Doha. In March it projected revenue for its current four-year cycle through 2026 at $13 billion, up from $7.5 billion for 2019-22.

Each of the 48 national federations at the expanded 2026 World Cup will receive $1.5 million for preparation costs and $9 million for participating in the group stage, the same as for the 2022 tournament.

Teams advancing to the new round of 32 get $11 million and those reaching the round of 16 receive $15 million. Nations reaching the quarterfinals are paid $19 million, the fourth-place team $27 million, the third-place team $29 million and the final loser $33 million.

Including participation fees, FIFA will distribute $727 million to the 48 federations.

Each federation decides what to pay its players. The French sports daily L’Equipe reported France players were in line for a bonus of $586,000 by their federation if they won the trophy in 2022. France was ultimately beaten by Argentina in the final.

The U.S. Soccer Federation’s 2022 collective bargaining agreements with the unions for its men’s and women’s national teams call for prize money for men in 2026 and women in 2027 to be pooled together, and 80% of the money to be distributed among the players.

AP Sports Writer Ronald Blum in New York contributed to this report.

James Robson is at https://x.com/jamesalanrobson

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

FIFA President Gianni Infantino pauses President Donald Trump during the draw for the 2026 soccer World Cup at the Kennedy Center in Washington, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (Mandel Ngan/Pool Photo via AP)

FIFA President Gianni Infantino speaks during the match schedule reveal for the 2026 soccer World Cup in Washington, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

FIFA President Gianni Infantino arrives to attend the draw for the 2026 soccer World Cup at the Kennedy Center in Washington, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

FIFA President Gianni Infantino speaks during the draw for the 2026 soccer World Cup at the Kennedy Center in Washington, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, Pool)

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday met with family members of two Iowa National Guard members and a U.S. civilian who were killed in an attack in the Syrian desert.

The meeting was held at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware before the remains of the deceased were transferred to their families. Trump was joining the families and top administration and military officials to watch the so-called dignified transfer of the remains.

The solemn dignified transfer ritual honors U.S. service members killed in action. Trump, who traveled to Dover several times in his first term, once described it as “the toughest thing I have to do” as president.

The two guardsmen killed in Syria on Saturday were Sgt. Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar, 25, of Des Moines, and Sgt. William Nathaniel Howard, 29, of Marshalltown, according to the U.S. Army. Both were members of the 1st Squadron, 113th Cavalry Regiment, and have been hailed as heroes by the Iowa National Guard.

Torres-Tovar's and Howard’s families were at Dover for the return of their remains, alongside Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, members of Iowa’s congressional delegation and leaders of the Iowa National Guard. Their remains will be taken to Iowa after the transfer.

A U.S. civilian working as an interpreter, identified Tuesday as Ayad Mansoor Sakat, of Macomb, Michigan, was also killed. Three other members of the Iowa National Guard were injured in the attack. The Pentagon has not identified them.

They were among hundreds of U.S. troops deployed in eastern Syria as part of a coalition fighting the Islamic State group.

There is no formal role for a president at a dignified transfer other than to watch in silence, with all thoughts about what happened in the past and what is happening at Dover kept to himself for the moment. There is no speaking by any of the dignitaries who attend, with the only words coming from the military officials who direct the highly choreographed transfers.

Trump arrived without first lady Melania Trump, who had been scheduled to accompany him, according to the president's public schedule. Her office declined to elaborate, with spokesperson Nick Clemens saying the first lady "was not able to attend today.”

During the process at Dover, transfer cases draped with the American flag that hold the soldiers' remains are carried from the belly of a hulking C-17 military aircraft to a waiting vehicle under the watchful eyes of grieving family members. The vehicle then transports the remains to the mortuary facility at the base, where the fallen are prepared for burial at their final resting places.

Howard's stepfather, Jeffrey Bunn, has said Howard “loved what he was doing and would be the first in and last out.” He said Howard had wanted to be a soldier since he was a boy.

In a social media post, Bunn, who is chief of the Tama, Iowa, police department, said Howard was a loving husband and an “amazing man of faith.” He said Howard’s brother, a staff sergeant in the Iowa National Guard, would escort “Nate” back to Iowa.

Torres-Tovar was remembered as a “very positive” family-oriented person who always put others first, according to fellow Guard members who were deployed with him and issued a statement to the local TV broadcast station WOI.

Dina Qiryaqoz, the daughter of the civilian interpreter who was killed, said Wednesday in a statement that her father worked for the U.S. Army during the invasion of Iraq from 2003 to 2007. Sakat is survived by his wife and four adult children.

The interpreter was from Bakhdida, Iraq, a small Catholic village southeast of Mosul, and the family immigrated to the U.S. in 2007 on a special visa, Qiryaqoz said. At the time of his death, Sakat was employed as an independent contractor for Virginia-based Valiant Integrated Services.

Sakat's family was still struggling to believe that he is gone. “He was a devoted father and husband, a courageous interpreter and a man who believed deeply in the mission he served,” Qiryaqoz said.

Trump told reporters over the weekend that he was mourning the deaths. He vowed retaliation. The most recent instance of U.S. service members killed in action was in January 2024, when three American troops died in a drone attack in Jordan.

Saturday's deadly attack followed a rapprochement between the U.S. and Syria, bringing the former pariah state into a U.S.-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group.

Trump has forged a relationship with interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the onetime leader of an Islamic insurgent group who led the ouster of former President Bashar Assad.

Trump, who met with al-Sharaa last month at the White House, said Monday that the attack had nothing to do with the Syrian leader, who Trump said was “devastated by what happened.”

During his first term, Trump visited Dover in 2017 to honor a U.S. Navy SEAL killed during a raid in Yemen, in 2019 for two Army officers whose helicopter crashed in Afghanistan, and in 2020 for two Army soldiers killed in Afghanistan when a person dressed in an Afghan army uniform opened fire.

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Associated Press writers Konstantin Toropin and Darlene Superville in Washington, Isabella Volmert in Lansing, Michigan, and Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump talks to reporters as he departs from the South Lawn of the White House, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in Washington, en route to Baltimore to attend the Army-Navy football game. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

This undated combo photo created with images released by the Iowa National Guard shows Sgts. William Nathaniel Howard, left, and Edgar Brian Torres-Tovar. (Iowa National Guard via AP)