Time to pay up - world champions receive US authorities' "parting gift"
Jul 26, 2026 · 10:00
Spain's World Cup-winning team must hand over nearly a third of their $50 million prize money as tax to the US tax authorities, due to strict American laws.
Spain's national football team must pay roughly 30 percent of their $50 million World Cup winnings as tax to the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) - according to a report by the Hungarian news agency MTI, citing Fox News. The Spanish team will be taxed $15 million on their prize money - not at home, but in the United States!
While FIFA regularly negotiates with host nations to exempt national federations from local taxation, US authorities do not treat the team collectively, but instead regard the Spanish players as individual taxpayers who earned income in the United States. As a result, under US rules they must pay the appropriate amount of tax on the work performed in the USA.
According to Fox News, this sum could reach $15 million. The full prize money is paid to the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), and if it is split equally among the 26-man squad, the tax burden works out to roughly $576,000 per player following the tournament, jointly hosted by the USA, Canada and Mexico.
