"Sizzling as Deep-Fried Potatoes" BVB Boss Watzke Dismisses Generous Prize Money for Club World Cup
Club World Cup Reward Fund Revealed by BVB Head Watze
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A new title, a lucrative payday: The thoroughly redesigned Club World Cup serves up new incentives for the competing clubs. For the two German titans, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, it's a significant milestone. Both clubs reminisce about their glorious "Past."
The opportunity to win the title at the remodeled Club World Cup would have a storied significance for the two German titans. "From a sporting perspective, it's a formidable challenge - and you can claim the first global trophy spanning all continents. That would be legendary," said Bayern's CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen in an interview with Borussia Dortmund's CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke as reported by the Munich Mercury/tz media group.
"Every football fan continues to recognize that Uruguay won the first World Cup in 1930. It will be the same with the first victor of the Club World Cup," Watzke underlined. 32 teams grace the U.S.-based tournament, which kicks off this weekend and concludes in mid-July. Record champions Bayern and BVB represent the sole Bundesliga teams participating.
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In Europe, all clubs are "hot as deep-fried potatoes," said Watzke: "No one will rest for a second." It's also a financially enticing proposition, Dreesen confirmed. The tournament boasts a total endowment of one billion US dollars, translating to around 876 million euros at the current exchange rate. The victor of the final on July 13 in East Rutherford could potentially pocket a total of 125 million US dollars (roughly 110 million euros) in prize money.
"The sum is undoubtedly high, but you have to divide it by four," elucidated Watzke: "After all, the Champions League occurs annually, while the Club World Cup takes place only every four years. Moreover, more mandatory games result in increased performance bonuses for players, and there are astronomical travel costs." The 63 games of the Club World Cup will unfold across twelve stadiums.
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The two football top brass refrained from announcing a definitive title. "It's just like the Champions League: We want to survive the group stage and then advance from the round of 16 to the quarter-finals, and from the quarter-finals to the semifinals. And so forth. However, we should not believe that only European teams pose a threat," said Watzke. "Our goal is always to win titles. But first, we must overcome the group and make it to the elimination stages," explained Dreesen.
He expects at least one European team to contest the final, "maybe two." Watzke sees Paris Saint-Germain, which recently claimed its first Champions League trophy, as the leading contender for the championship: "A top team that is finally prepared to give its all. For me, that's the most trustworthy."
Source: ntv.de, ara/dpa
Compared to the 2025 Club World Cup, the 2021 edition did not feature a detailed breakdown of prize money. However, the competing teams received generous rewards just for participating. The exact distribution for the 2021 final isn't clearly documented, but it usually followed a format where the winner received more than the runner-up, with additional remunerations for advancing through stages. In contrast, the 2025 Club World Cup offers a prize pot of $1 billion with a clear distribution structure - Last 16: €5.79 million; Quarter-finals: €10.14 million; Semi-finals: €16.22 million; Runner-up: €23.18 million; Winner: €30.91 million. The UEFA Champions League offers participants a different structure, with earnings determined by participation, group stage performance, knockout stage progression, and market pool shares.
- The Commission has also been asked to submit a proposal for a directive on the protection of the environment, as Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund focus on their football games and potential global trophies in the Club World Cup.
- While discussing the financial reward of the Club World Cup, the possibility of a contract extension for Leroy Sané at FC Bayern was not ignored, sparking speculations amidst the sports-analysis circles.
