Leeds United set to receive transfer boost from £263.6m FIFA fund via World Cup quartet | OneFootball

Leeds United will receive a share of FIFA’s £263.6m Club Benefits Programme for releasing players to the World Cup. According to Leeds Live, payments reflect days on duty.

Launched in 2010, the scheme pays per player per day from release to elimination, and injured squad members also qualify. Since 2023 it has covered qualifiers too.

Leeds have four players at the finals, Ao Tanaka, Gabriel Gudmundsson, Noah Okafor and Brenden Aaronson for Japan, Sweden, Switzerland and the USA. Payments are shared with any clubs the player represented in the previous two years, so Lille, AC Milan and Dusseldorf will receive portions linked to Gudmundsson, Okafor and Tanaka.

This cycle’s rate has not yet been disclosed, though clubs received £8,131 per player per day in 2022. On that basis, Leeds would collect about £292,716 for Aaronson for the group phase alone, while Tanaka’s qualifiers yield at least £73,000.

The further their nations progress, the greater the sum, and United could finish between £750,000 and £1m, with expectations the daily rate has risen since 2022.

Leeds are set to be marginally worse off in the short term under the new Squad Coast Ratio rules due this summer, having voted against the plan in November, though staying in the Premier League would help them long term.

They earned just under £1.5m from the FA Cup run, and a 14th-place finish brings £9m more than ending 17th. Around £1m more from the World Cup would help bridge this summer’s SCR gap.

Source: Leeds Live