The reporter reported coldly $1 Billion Prize! In order to create the signature of the first Club World Cup, FIFA finally showed the "hole card" to attract European giants. The 2025 Club World Cup has set a new record for FIFA-hosted tournaments and is more than double the total prize money of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar (US$440 million). Although the total prize money for the 2026 FIFA World Cup has not yet been announced, the total prize money for the first Club World Cup will most likely be higher than the 2026 Men's World Cup, based on the 70% increase in compensation for players participating in the club World Cup announced by FIFA last year.

The total prize money in the Champions League this season is as high as 2.66 billion US dollars, but there are as many as 191 games, and the average prize money per game is only 13.93 million US dollars. There are only 63 Club World Cup matches, with an average prize fund of US$15.87 million per game. In order to compete with UEFA for the club competition market, Infantino did not hesitate to give up huge profits and exchange sky-high bonuses for the enthusiasm of the giant clubs to participate in the Club World Cup. For FIFA, this summer's Club World Cup must be the "second World Cup" for the giants to participate in, and there is no room for failure.

Of course, more people will care about how the prize money is distributed.

Of the $1 billion, $575 million is the participation prize money of 32 clubs, and $465 million is the performance prize. However, unlike the World Cup and Champions League, the prize money for participating in the Club World Cup is not evenly divided, but is distributed according to the club's commercial value and influence. The first is to allow the European giants with higher commercial value to receive more bonuses, and the second is to avoid widening the income gap between clubs on other financially weak continents. For example, Auckland City in Oceania would receive $16.4 million, almost four times the club's annual budget, and the combined annual budgets of the rest of the Australasian Champions League, which would create an even greater disparity between the rich and the poor in Oceanian football.

According to Marca, the distribution of prize money among the 12 participating European clubs will also vary significantly depending on the commercial value of the clubs. The €10 million is a fixed entry bonus, and FIFA evaluates the commercial value of the clubs to determine the floating entry prize for each club. Real Madrid, for example, will receive a total of €35 million in participation bonuses, while Atletico Madrid will receive €20 million. Other continental clubs have seen their participation bonuses fixed and "commercial value bonuses" decline gradually, with South American clubs expected to halve and Oceania to the least.

In terms of prize money, there is a prize of $2 million for a win in the group stage and a prize of $1 million for a draw. Advance to the round of 16 with $7.5 million, the top 8 with $12.5 million, the top 4 with $22.5 million, and the two teams that make it to the finals will each receive $30 million, with an additional $40 million for the winner. Taking Real Madrid as an example, if Real Madrid wins all 7 games and wins the championship, the competitive prize money will be close to 120 million US dollars, plus the participation bonus will reach up to 160 million US dollars! This is higher than the $130 million Real Madrid received for winning the Champions League in 2023/24, and even on par with the prize money that Real Madrid expects to receive for winning the title this season. But Real Madrid only need to play seven games in the Club World Cup to get $160 million, and in the Champions League they need to play 17 games.

FIFA's unprecedented total prize money means that the profits that can be made from the tournament will inevitably drop significantly. After deducting the prize money and the necessary costs of hosting the event, FIFA has very limited profit margin for the 2025 Club World Cup. In this regard, Infantino has already said with a "high profile": nearly 90% of the income of the Club World Cup will be returned to world football to promote the development of world football.

FIFA's budget for the 2025 Club World Cup is US$2 billion, in addition to US$1 billion in broadcast revenue, about US$500 million in box office and peripheral revenue, and about US$500 million in commercial income such as sponsorship. In addition to the $1 billion participation prize money of Infantino's "Giving Back Football", FIFA will also distribute $150 million to $250 million to the clubs of the six major football federations that have not participated. Infantino hopes to make the Club World Cup supported by most leagues and clubs around the world, so that the "Club World Cup" can be ranked alongside the National Team World Cup and become the largest brand series under FIFA.

Not only that, FIFA also hopes to fully enter the women's club market through the creation of the Women's Club World Cup and the Women's Champions Cup. The inaugural FIFA Women's Club World Cup kicks off in 2028 and will feature 19 clubs. The Women's Champions Cup is the Intercontinental Cup, a men's club competition, which will be held in 2026 by the champions of the women's football clubs of six continents. Previously, FIFA has increased the total prize money of the Women's World Cup to 110 million US dollars, and the total prize money of the next Women's World Cup will even be the same as that of the men's World Cup. In addition to competing with UEFA for the men's club market, FIFA is also not sparing the women's football competition, which is in a blowout period of commercial value and influence.