European Football Clubs, the body that represents more than 800 sides across the continent, had pushed for a share of just over 60% of the $250m (£185m) global pot. It settled for half after FIFA insisted on a more equal global distribution, with the deal now days away from formal ratification.

The concession is a rare climbdown from a group that has spent the past year publicly at odds with Gianni Infantino. Its members arrive in Copenhagen this week for a general assembly with FIFA governance already at the top of the agenda.

Half of the money, $125m, will be split among top-flight European clubs that did not play in the expanded Club World Cup in the United States in 2025. The size of each payment depends on how many seasons a side spent at the top level between 2021 and 2024, and how deep they went in UEFA club competitions across the same window.

Liverpool in line for a bigger cheque

That formula puts Liverpool among the larger beneficiaries. The club were Champions League runners-up in 2022, and their sustained run in UEFA’s premier competition across the assessment period places them toward the higher end of the payout scale.

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Chelsea, who won the tournament in the United States in 2025, will see none of the solidarity money. As champions they collected around £84m in prize money and are excluded from the top-up fund, which is reserved for the clubs that stayed at home.

A payout more than a year late

The delay has been a source of frustration inside Europe’s smaller leagues for months. By February, clubs were still waiting for a timeline more than seven months after the final, with FIFA still negotiating how to split the fund across the six confederations.

In a letter to FIFA this year, EFC told the governing body that the absence of a solution on Club World Cup solidarity was “of serious concern and disappointment to EFC and our member clubs.” The same letter warned that the group’s cooperation with future FIFA events would depend on Infantino stepping back from the FIFA Forward Enterprise plan to sell equity in the World Cup.

For clubs in Europe’s smaller top divisions, where domestic television income has thinned out, even a five-figure share of the pot can decide whether budgets balance or slip into serious strain.

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Zurich sign-off due 15 October

The agreement now needs approval from the FIFA Council, which meets in Zurich on 15 October. The EFC assembly in Copenhagen runs from 28 to 30 September, and no club will see a payment until the Council has signed off on the split.

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