World Cup team bonuses - Spain on top, lots of zeros for all

By Christian Kamp Jun 5, 2006, 22:55 GMT

Berlin - The members of the Spanish national team are the potential top earners in a tense competition for the World Cup's biggest bonus pay out, with each player promised a glittering 570,000 Euros (712,00 dollar) pay check, if Spain takes the championship.

Even simple participation in the final, and then failing to win it, would still guarantee each Spanish player (substitutes and bench warmers included) a solid per-man 360,000 Euros reward, officials from the Spanish Football Federation said.

England's Football Association, though financed by the world's richest club system the Premier League, is distinctly tighter on the purse strings than the Spaniards, willing only to fork out a mere 430,000 Euros per player lump sum, if the English manage a repeat of their 1966 World Cup success.

Germany this championship has managed to avoid a repeat of the weeks of wrangling about bonuses during the 2002 campaign in Japan and South Korea, with the German Football Federation firmly committed on paper to give Michael Ballack and company 300,000 Euros per player, if the Germans happen to come out on top.

Switzerland was in the same ball park, promising 350,0000 per player in case of a Swiss win.

The traditionally football-mad nations Portugal and Italy were a bit more moderate, dangling the relatively modest financial carrots of 275,000 and 250,000 Euros respectively, before their national team players.

Some countries have gone for more creative payment plans, with for instance the Czech Republic and Croatia intending to redistribute prize money promised by FIFA to the countries' football associations, in an 80:20 split between players and coaches.

The Kranjcar family - with father Zlatko coaching the Croatian national side and son Niko wearing a player uniform - would pile up a smooth 750,000 Euros, if Croatia were to win the title.

Poland's players, on the other hand, enjoy a possibly unique insurance: If the side falls out of competition due to a poor referee call, the leadership of the Polish Football Association has promised to take 'events out of control of the team' under consideration when deciding the size of World Cup bonuses.

Middle Eastern sides are, perhaps characteristically, using original combinations of cash and barter goods in an attempt to inspire their national teams to World Cup success.

Every Iranian player participating in a World Cup win, for instance, would receive 50,000 euros and a Peugeot 206 automobile from a grateful Iran Football Association.

Saudia Arabia's footballers aren't even being offered money at all, with the Saudi Arabia Football Association (SAFF) trying to tempt players with new houses or land. Prince Sultan Fahad Bin Abdulaziz, the SAFF chief, 'would be extremely generous', a spokesman said.

Some countries, for reasons best known to them, are keeping the precise details of World Cup bonuses a secret.

'We have little problems and we have bigger problems, but that issue (World Cup bonus payments and size) we will handle internally,' said Otto Pfister, the Togo coach.

Balakiyem Rock Gnassingbe, the Togo Football Federation (FTF) chief, reportedly will meet with Pfister later this week, hopefully to avoid a repeat of past, when the FTF promised players hefty incentive payments for other tournaments, and then reneged after the competition was over.