MIAMI GARDENS, FLORIDA - JUNE 14: Lionel Messi of Inter Miami walk next to the FIFA Club World Cup ... More Trophy during the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 group A match between Al Ahly SC and Internacional CF Miami at Hard Rock Stadium on June 14, 2025 in Miami Gardens, United States. (Photo by Sebastian Frej/Getty Images) Getty Images Inter Miami’s progress in FIFA’s new, expanded version of the Club World Cup will see the Major League Soccer side receive an unprecedented amount of prize money for an American soccer team. The franchise, which boasts one of the all-time greatest players, Lionel Messi, finished Group A unbeaten and recorded an impressive victory against European side FC Porto in the process. In doing so, it became the first MLS side, and the first from the Concacaf region, to defeat European opposition in official competitive play. Inter Miami’s participation in the tournament sees it take home a significant sum of prize money from this lucrative FIFA competition that boasts a total prize pot of $1 billion. How Much Will Inter Miami Earn? Participating teams from the North, Central America, and Caribbean region, which include Inter Miami along with Seattle Sounders and Los Angeles FC from MLS, plus Pachuca and Monterrey from Mexico, received $9.55 million for merely participating in the tournament. Inter Miami is due additional performance-related prize money for its group stage results and for its progress to the next stage of the tournament. Its impressive display in Group A, which saw it record draws against Al Ahly and Palmeiras and a win against Porto, gives it an extra $4 million, while progressing from the group stage to the knockout rounds comes with an additional $7.5 million portion of the prize pot. It takes Inter Miami’s total Club World Cup prize money to $20.05 million. Qualification Controversy The amount of money Inter Miami is receiving further adds to the controversy around its participation in this Club World Cup. It was handed its place in the tournament as the United States host team, but the qualification criteria for being picked as the host representative were not known during the previous season. MORE FOR YOU The other MLS teams in this Club World Cup, Seattle Sounders and Los Angeles FC, qualified via the main route, which is based on performance in their confederation’s top tournament, in this case, the Concacaf Champions League. Seattle won the Champions League in 2022, and LAFC finished runner-up to Club León, the Mexican side disqualified from the Club World Cup due to multi-club ownership issues. Even then, LAFC had to go via a playoff against the next highest ranked team in the region, Club América, to ensure its place. Despite this controversy, it could be said that Inter Miami was the most deserving choice among the teams from MLS, as it topped the overall league standings in 2024, in record-breaking fashion no less, to win the Supporters’ Shield. But the decision to give the spot to the Supporters’ Shield winner was made after the event, which led to speculation that they only got the spot so FIFA could have Messi in the tournament. With such large sums of money on offer, the unclear host qualification process and the lateness with which the decision arrived look even more shoddy and haphazard. Prize Money Perspective FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA - OCTOBER 19: Lionel Messi #10 and Inter Miami lift the Supporters' Shield ... More after defeating New England Revolution at Chase Stadium on October 19, 2024 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. (Photo by Carmen Mandato/Getty Images) Getty Images To put Inter Miami’s $20 million-plus prize money in context, the winner of MLS’s biggest prize, the MLS Cup, receives $300k, while winning the Supporters’ Shield as Inter Miami did in 2024 comes with no accompanying prize money. The Concacaf Champions Cup has recently upped its prize money significantly, but the $5 million for the winning team still pales in comparison to the Club World Cup riches. Messi, who turns 39 this week, is the highest-paid player in Major League Soccer, with a base salary of $12 million and an average guaranteed compensation per year of $20.5 million, which includes add-ons such as signing on fees and bonuses. Inter Miami’s Club World Cup progress could effectively pay Messi’s wages for the year, but player bonuses for the entire roster for this tournament are capped at $1 million—something the Major League Soccer Players Association has campaigned to increase. Where Will The Money Go? As MLS is a centrally run, single-entity league with a salary cap, the prize money its three teams received at the tournament, which so far adds up to just over $40 million, will likely go towards designated player signings or operating costs at the respective teams, or to the league itself. Of the other MLS teams involved, Seattle Sounders lost all three of its games at the tournament, while Los Angeles FC managed to draw with Flamengo but lost against Chelsea and Espérance de Tunis. The pair showed promising signs, but the poor results of the teams not called Inter Miami have led to calls for MLS to relax its roster rules and salary cap. Inter Miami will now face one of Messi’s former clubs, Paris Saint-Germain, in the last 16 in Atlanta on Sunday. PSG recently won the UEFA Champions League in convincing fashion and qualified for the next edition of this expanded Club World Cup, in 2029, on the back of that win (it qualified for the current tournament based on ranking). Should Messi and Miami cause the upset of all upsets, and provide MLS with an all-time greatest result in international club competition by defeating PSG, that $7.5m for getting past the group stage would turn into $13.125m for reaching the quarter finals, taking Inter Miami’s total prize money to $26.7 million. As with the other regions in FIFA that are not used to receiving such sums of money, where this money ends up will be interesting to follow. Editorial StandardsReprints & Permissions