How much money do the clubs in the Superliga cost without the national team from the World Cup! » FCSB and Craiova, the biggest damages

Two other top clubs in the Superliga, Rapid and U Cluj, have deficits of 650,000 dollars in total, money that would have come from FIFA if Romania passed both play-off matches and returned after 28 years to a World Cup.

FIFA has increased by one million dollars the total per diem allocated to the national teams for the preparation of participation in the 2026 World Cup

If we also add the (episodic) contributions of the rest of the players from the domestic championship participating in the 2026 WC preliminaries, including the semi-final with Turkey in Istanbul, we will exceed the amount of 2 million dollars that would have entered the accounts of the Super League teams.

FIFA has increased the money allocated to the 48 teams qualified for the final tournament in Canada, Mexico and the United States by 15%. At the 76th Congress in Vancouver, it was decided that the total fund increases to $871 million, with each participating nation receiving a larger amount for preparation, $1 million more than was previously paid to Qatar 2022.

Specifically, according to the “mercurial” of the forum led by Gianni Infantino, for each player in the group of 26 who will go to the North American competition, $5,000 is paid per day. The calculation is made starting from the first day of the meeting (June 1 will be considered, ex officio) until the moment when the respective team is eliminated.

6million dollars is the amount they could receive from FIFA Manchester City, who have 19 players (the most) at WC 2026

Making an exercise of imagination and considering that we had been in Turkey's place in Group D, alongside Australia, the USA and Paraguay, and had played the final game on June 26 (the most pessimistic working hypothesis of not qualifying for the last 16), the total amount of money transferred to FIFA accounts would have amounted to $3,360,000 (approximately 3 million euros).

$2,360 per international player's appearance in the qualifiers vs. $5,000 per day/player at the 2026 World Cup

Only by missing the qualification for WC 2026, the Zurich forum is discounting lower amounts by an order of magnitude to those who will see the final tournament scheduled in the USA, Canada and Mexico between June 11 and July 19.

This is how the ranking of the clubs that give at least 10 players to WC 2026 / Photo: Kodro Magazine

FIFA decided, exceptionally, to allocate a small part of the prize budget to the teams that did not pass the preliminaries: 2,360 dollars for each match and player in the qualifications, in Romania's case being the eight games in the group and the play-off with Turkey.

That is, 138 appearances for the “tricolor” group, with a total of 325,680 dollars (about 283,000 euros). Ten times less money than if we were now ready to take off across the Ocean!

The highest amounts go to FCSB ($82,600) and Craiova University ($30,680), according to the attendances of the international preliminaries.

Louis Munteanu / Pictures of the friendly match between Georgia and Romania / Photo: Adrian Glodeanu (FRF)

If the red-blues had remained with a similar contingent for the hypothetical presence at the World Cup, the money collected by Gigi Becali could reach 780,000 dollars, so a minus of about 700,000. While the Super League champion at $650,000, equivalent to an estimated damage of about 620,000.

If we add up the money that did not reach the accounts of other clubs from the domestic championship that gave players to the national team and could have sent them to WC 2026 – Rapid, U Cluj, CFR Cluj, etc. -, we will exceed 2 million dollars (1.73 million euros). The average wage budget in the Superliga for 10 months.