FIRST PRIZE
The winner between Germany and Argentina in the final will get $35 million in prize money paid to its national federation, which can spend the money as it chooses. That's $5 million more than the $30 million Spain took home from South Africa four years ago. The runner up gets $25 million (up from $24 million in 2010), while the third- and fourth-place teams get $22 million and $20 million, respectively.
FIFA PROMISE
FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke said it was "sad" that bonus issues distracted from the football. He pledged that, in the future, FIFA will seek written agreements from federations that players are contracted to receive their money before arriving in Russia in 2018.
PlAYERS' SHARE
FIFA lets national federations choose how to reward the 23 players on their squads. The German federation last year promised all 23 players a 300,000-euro ($408,000) bonus for winning a fourth World Cup title. That is the equivalent of a few weeks' basic wage for the German players who are employed by wealthy European clubs like Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.
PRIZE POOl
Prize money for the other 28 federations who are eliminated before the semifinals stayed at the same level as in 2010. Quarterfinalists get $14 million, round of 16 losers get $9 million and those which failed to advance from the group get $8 million. How do they spend itIJ Four years ago, FIFA acknowledged it did not know if the $8 million paid to North Korea would stay within football there. In addition, FIFA paid $1.5 million in advance to each of the 32 federations to prepare for the tournament — an increase of $500,000 from the 2010 tournament That should have helped pay for training camps before arriving in Brazil and settle some player bonus issues which have traditionally dogged World Cup teams, especially from Africa.
PAY TO PlAY
As usual, problems over paying bonuses exposed the financial problems of African federations and a fundamental distrust many players have for elected football officials. Three of the five African teams — Cameroon, Ghana and Nigeria — were distracted by payment issues. Cameroon's squad arrived a day late after refusing to board a plane, forcing their federation to take out a loan to ensure players got paid. Ghana's government flew in $3 million in cash — after Brazil's government waived laws on moving currency — to avert a threatened strike by players who were reportedly promised between $75,000 and $100,000. Nigeria players canceled a training session before its round of 16 loss against France to ensure its bonus payments were upheld. They were promised $10,000 each for every group stage win, and could have earned $102,500 in total for winning the title.