A quartet led by captain Manuel Neuer ensures that negotiations with the DFB come to a happy conclusion from the point of view of the German national football team: In the winter in Qatar, if the tournament is successful, the stars can earn better than ever before at a World Cup.
Winning the fifth World Cup title at the forthcoming tournament in Qatar would give every German national player 400,000 euros in bonus – more than ever before at a World Cup. The German Football Association and the national team have agreed on this, as the DFB announced. This would give the players 50,000 euros more than in 2018 in Russia, where there would have been 350,000 euros for winning the World Cup. At that time, however, the defending champion had already been eliminated in the preliminary round.
At the same time, the debate about “equal pay”, i.e. equal pay for the women’s and men’s national teams, will probably get a new basis. For comparison: The DFB women each received 30,000 euros for their second place at the European Championships last summer. There would have been 60,000 euros for the title. If they had triumphed at the European Championships last year, the men’s team led by the national coach at the time, Joachim Löw, could have collected €400,000 per player. The 2014 World Cup brought 300,000 euros into the coffers of the newly crowned world champions.
“We had the intensive talks in a good and constructive atmosphere. Ultimately, we reached an acceptable solution for everyone involved,” said DFB President Bernd Neuendorf. In addition to Neuendorf, Vice President Hans-Joachim Watzke and Holger Blask as Managing Directors also took part for the DFB. The team was represented by Captain Manuel Neuer, Thomas Müller, Joshua Kimmich and Ilkay Gündogan.
Each player would receive 50,000 euros for winning the group in the preliminary round, 100,000 euros for reaching the quarter-finals and 150,000 euros for the semi-finals. The third place would be awarded with 200,000 euros, the vice world championship with 250,000 euros.
First place in the preliminary round group E alone would bring Neuer and Co. more money than what the German women had received with second place at the European Championships in England. After a visit by Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the beginning of August, Neuendorf announced a debate in the DFB about adjusting the bonuses. “I am at least willing to talk to the representatives of the senior national teams in our committees about whether our bonus system, which has grown over decades, is still up to date (…) and it can also be adjusted if necessary,” said Neuendorf at the time after a Chancellor’s push for “Equal Pay”.
