How Much Wrexham Should Make in World Cup Compensation

Wrexham will soon discover the exact payout they are entitled to after releasing two players for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Every club that released players for the tournament receives compensation for the time those players spent away on international duty, regardless of how much they played.

Each club receives an equal “per player, per day” payment. The daily participation rate is multiplied by the number of days each player spends at the World Cup, covering the period from 10 days before their nation's opening match through the day after their final appearance.

The final figures will only be confirmed once the tournament concludes, although early estimates suggest clubs will receive approximately $5,000 per player, per day.

That would represent a significant decrease from the $10,950 per player, per day distributed among 440 clubs during the 2022 World Cup. The reduction is largely due to the tournament expanding from 32 to 48 teams. While FIFA has increased the overall Club Benefits Program from $209 million to $355 million, only $250 million has been allocated to the final tournament, with the remainder covering the qualification process.

For the first time, the FIFA Club Benefits Program compensates not only the club where each participating player is registered during the tournament, but also any clubs they represented during the two-year qualification period leading up to the World Cup.

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How Much Compensation Wrexham Should Receive

Wrexham defenders Dom Hyam and Liberato Cacace were both selected for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Hyam was an unused substitute in all three of Scotland’s group-stage matches as it finished third in Group C and failed to qualify for the knockout rounds. Meanwhile, Cacace started all three of New Zealand’s matches as it finished bottom of Group G with just one point.

As a result, both players were away for the minimum possible period—21 days for Hyam and 22 days for Cacace. Based on FIFA’s estimated minimum payment of approximately $5,000 per player, per day, Wrexham should expect to receive around $105,000 for Hyam and $110,000 for Cacace, granting the club an estimated total compensation package of $215,000 for the tournament.

Both players will be entitled to some time off following their World Cup involvement but are expected to be available for Wrexham’s preseason schedule, which begins in July. The Red Dragons will welcome the squad back for initial fitness testing this week before opening their summer schedule against Wisła Kraków on Saturday, July 11.

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Rich Fay is a Sports Illustrated freelance writer covering Wrexham AFC. He was born in Wrexham and raised in North Wales, but spent nine years covering Manchester United and Manchester City for the Manchester Evening News and National World. Rich is also the co-host of the RobRyanRed Wrexham podcast and featured in the Welcome to Wrexham docuseries. When he is not at matches, he is a keen hiker as well as a cook, and thinks he would do surprisingly well on the Great British Bake Off.