Do Footballers Get Salary Playing For National Teams ? World Cup Player Bonuses Revealed

The average salary in premier league its around £40,000- £45,000 a week which is insane amount of money by any standard and some top rated players like Ronaldo and Lionel Messi are making as much as £50 million a year with their club contracts and endorsement deals. But what about the salaries of players playing for their national teams ? the answer to this question is “Yes” they do get paid but way less than what they make with their respective clubs. Apart from that usual low salaries with national teams, federations also offer bonuses and incentives for major international events such as World Cups and Euros etc. We take a look at some of the major national teams and how they reward players for reaching certain goals in major tournaments.

Do Footballers Get Paid To Play For National Teams ?

National team competitions are run and overlooked by FIFA and every country’s football federation (FA) is responsible for structuring the national team setup. FIFA pays/distribute money among all federations through either prize money or development payments. But how much federation pay to their national players is not dictated by FIFA. The decision to pay salary (and how much) to players playing in national team is totally upto the individual federations. So different football federations around the world pay different salaries/match fees to their players. Most of the big footballing nations (England, Germany, Italy, France etc pay a small match fee to players plus bonuses which are explained below).

England players match fees/Bonuses:

English FA has installed a match fee and competition winning bonus system to compensate players in the national team setup. English FA usually pay England players around

1. £1500 for winning a match qualifier/friendlies
2. £1000 for a draw
3. £500 for a defeat.

While for competition likes World Cup and Euro Championship basic match fees goes up plus a certain bonus for every player in case England wins the competition. For example during 2014 FIFA World Cup English FA paid £2,500 for every match a player started the game while rest of the squad pocketed £1,500 for every game regardless of playing in the game or not. Plus there was a hefty bonus (£650,000) for each squad member if England were to win the world cup.

According to some sources English players donate their all match fees and incentives earned from national team to charities one of which is orgnized by England players themselves called “England Footballers Foundation support Cancer Research”

Euro 2016 Qualifiers and Competition winning bonuses offered by different federations:

German FA also has the similar incentive based structure and every player of Germany national team gets paid a match fee which is not disclosed. While German FA paid €350,000 euros for winning the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Other major international teams have similar bonus structures and we take a look at how much federations are offering in performance based incentives and bonuses.

Player Bonuses Offered By Federations For FIFA World Cup 2018  

NATIONAL TEAM	BONUSES OFFERED FOR 2018 WORLD CUP
England	English FA Announced  £5 million in bonuses to England Squad if they win the 2018 World Cup. Thats £215,000 per player in 23-man squad. England players will get £54,000 each if they qualifying for knockout stages but fail to get past first knockout round. They will be paid absolutely nothing if they crash out in the knockout stages.
Germany	Germany pay match fee for every international game (friendly, qualifiers, tournament games) but money is not disclosed. German FA also announced bonus of €350,000 euros per player in 23 man squad if Germany can retain the title. €200,000 euros for finishing runners up, €125,000 euros for losing in semifinals, €75,000 euros for quarterfinals. Players will get not bonuses if they crash out in group stages or first knockout round.
Spain	Spain also pay (undisclosed) match fee for every international game. Spanish FA also revealed the bonuses for winning the 2018 World Cup. Each player in 23-man squad will be paid €125,000 euros each player for winning the world cup. €90,000 euros for finishing runnersup and €60,000 euros if they finish in semifinal places. €30,000 if they reach quarterfinals but crash out. Players will also get Patek Philippe Nautilus (worth €90,000) if Spain win the World Cup.
France	€500,000 euro each of the 23-man squad if France win the 2018 FIFA World Cup. If they finish runners-up every player will get €150,000. €70,000 if they crash out in semifinal stage and €30,000 if they lose in quarterfinals.
Australia	AUD $1 million ($750,000 usd) per player if Australia wins the 2018 FIFA World Cup. Unlike the other major team, Australian FA will still pay handsomely if team win group games, qualify for knockout stages.
Brazil	Unlike the other major European teams, Brazilian players are promised massive bonus for winning the 2018 FIFA World Cup. It was reported in spanish media that every player in 23-man squad will get $1 million usd if Brazil to win the World Cup.
Belgium	Belgium FA has been knockout to offer massive bonuses but leading to 2018 World Cup players agreed to reduce the match fee and bonuses for international matches. Unlike the 2016 Euro, where Belgium players were offered €1 million each for winning the tournament, Belgium FA has offered just €600,000 for each of the 23-man squad if they win the World Cup.

there are more than 190 football federations and its difficult to get the info what every federation pay to their national team players. As far as the big nations are concerned the match fee is pretty low compared to players own contracts with their respective clubs. But looking at statistics, the bigger football nations offer little bonuses for winning the world cup compared to national teams like Australia, USA, Iran, Turkey or some of the South American teams.