Europe’s top-flight clubs to get share of £185m from Club World Cup

Europe’s top-flight clubs will share half of the $250m (£185m) solidarity pot from the Club World Cup last year, ending a saga of which the duration had caused widespread frustration among those who did not participate in the tournament.

The Guardian understands Fifa and European Football Clubs are close to an agreement that would bring a 50-50 split between sides in Europe and those in the rest of the world. The fund, set aside to ensure the money-spinning competition contributes to football’s wider ecosystem, will be distributed once the deal has been ratified.

European Football Clubs had sought a share of just over 60% for its members but compromised after Fifa insisted on a more equal global distribution. A portion of the $125m will be handed to all top-division European clubs that were not involved in the Club World Cup, with amounts varying depending on the number of seasons a side competed at that level between 2021 and 2024.

An amount will also go to clubs with the best performance in Uefa club competitions during that period, again provided they did not play in the US-staged tournament in 2025. It raises the likelihood of clubs receiving wildly varying payments. Liverpool, the Champions League runners-up in 2022, would be among those in line to benefit at the higher end of the scale.

EFC will stage its general assembly in Copenhagen on Tuesday, and the agreement is likely to be confirmed after approval by the Fifa council, which is scheduled to meet in Zurich on 15 October.

Clubs from smaller leagues had grown particularly exasperated at the drawn-out timeline for receiving funds that, in many cases, can present a welcome lifeline. The Club World Cup winners, Chelsea, have long since benefited from an £84m payout from the £740m set aside as prize money.

As the Guardian reported in August, EFC threatened Fifa that it would not cooperate with future Club World Cups if Gianni Infantino did not withdraw his ill-fated Fifa Forward Enterprise scheme. In the same letter EFC said the lack of a solution on Club World Cup solidarity payments was “of serious disappointment to EFC and our member clubs”.

A joint venture between EFC and Fifa, intended to involve managing the commercial side of global club competitions, remains on the table but is unlikely to be signed in the near future given the turbulence surrounding world football’s leadership.

Gianni Infantino addressed the EFC general assembly in Rome last year but a repeat performance is not deemed likely this time given the prospect of a direct encounter with adversaries such as the Uefa president, Aleksander Ceferin. Infantino spent Monday attempting to boost his standing in Europe by travelling to Riga for the opening of new offices at the Latvian Football Association. The Fifa secretary general, Mattias Grafström, is expected to be among the delegates in Copenhagen.