When Argentina and Spain meet in Sunday's final, they will be playing for a trophy, national pride and a very large check. The winner collects about $50 million from FIFA. Then come the taxes.

The richest prize pool ever

FIFA has poured a record $871 million into prize money for the 2026 tournament, a sharp jump from the last World Cup. The champion's share is roughly $50 million, the runner-up gets about $33 million, and the third- and fourth-place teams take home $29 million and $27 million. Even the teams knocked out in the group stage do not leave empty-handed: every qualified nation is guaranteed a minimum payout, on the order of $12.5 million, before any bonus for advancing.

One important wrinkle: the money does not go straight to the players. FIFA pays each country's soccer federation, and the federation then decides how much reaches the athletes, the coaches and the rest of the operation. How generous that split is varies widely from country to country.

Where the tax comes in

Because the United States is a primary host of this World Cup, the American tax system reaches the winnings in a way it would not have in Qatar or Europe. Foreign athletes who earn money competing in the U.S. are generally subject to federal withholding on that income, and depending on tax treaties between their home country and Washington, the bite can be substantial.

Then there are the states. Many U.S. states levy what is informally called a "jock tax" on athletes for income earned while playing within their borders, as tax specialists have noted. The amount owed is typically apportioned by "duty days," the days a player spends training and competing in a given state. A match in Texas or Florida, which have no state income tax, carries a very different bill than one in California, New Jersey or Massachusetts, where rates run high. A team that plays across several states over the course of a tournament can end up owing pieces of its income to each.

The bottom line

For the players, none of this changes the thrill of the trophy, and even after taxes the sums are enormous. But the accounting is real. By the time the federations, the federal government and the states have all taken their portions, the headline $50 million is not what lands in any single player's account. Sunday's winners will celebrate first and settle up later, a reminder that even the world's biggest sporting prize comes with the world's most ordinary follow-up: a tax bill.