Overview
- FIFA’s council, meeting Tuesday in Vancouver ahead of the Congress, approved a 15% rise in distributions to $871 million for the 48 World Cup teams.
- Preparation money jumps to $2.5 million per team and qualification payments to $10 million, with added subsidies for delegations and ticket allocations to offset long-haul travel, taxes and other expenses, as FIFA projects roughly $13 billion in cycle revenue and faces backlash over high ticket prices.
- Tournament discipline will tighten with red cards for players who cover their mouths in confrontations and for those who leave the field in protest, and any team that causes abandonment will forfeit the match.
- To reduce suspensions in the expanded format, single yellow cards will be wiped after the group stage and again after the quarterfinals, a change for the event hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico from June 11 to July 19.
- Participation risks linger, with reports that Iranian officials missed Tuesday’s meeting over visas and a request to shift Iran’s matches to Mexico not granted, while Palestinian representatives have now secured visas to attend the Congress.