Serie A stands to gain from the World Cup

Italy, or rather Serie A, is also set to benefit from the World Cup. Through the Club Benefits Programme, FIFA is distributing a total of $250 million to clubs around the world whose registered players take part in the World Cup. Each player called up – with the count starting from 25 May – guarantees their club around $5,000 for each day spent in the United States, Canada and Mexico. These figures are not staggering, but they do help to bolster the clubs’ finances. Overall, Serie A is set to take home just under $14 million from the tournament.

Milan top the table with 2.3 million, the result of the 463 days spent in total at the World Cup by their ten selected players. Atalanta follow, with almost 1.6 million for eight players who spent 319 days there, ahead of Inter, who are third with over 1.5 million accrued over 310 days thanks to seven players. Juventus sit just off the podium: 243 days are worth just over 1.2 million. Looking at individual players, the Lautaro Martínez–Nico Paz duo stand out at the top: Argentina’s qualification for the final brings Inter and Como $285,000 each from their star players. Just below them, on $280,000, are the French players Konè, Maignan, Rabiot and Thuram, who will feature in the third-place play-off. Milan, with two French players in their ranks, bring their total to $560,000 from this source alone. Another large group comes from Switzerland and Norway, who were knocked out in the quarter-finals after 49 days of the tournament: Akanji, Freuler, Heggem, Jashari, Ostigard, Pedersen and Thorsvedt are worth $245,000 each to their respective clubs, with Bologna pocketing $490,000 as they have two Scandinavian players in their squad. Bologna and Roma remain the only other teams to have exceeded the one-million mark.