IRS takes a cut out of Spain’s $50m World Cup prize
By Joshua Hong News Fellow July 23, 2026
Spain’s victory over Argentina in the 2026 FIFA World Cup final not only secured the country’s first men’s World Cup title in more than a decade—it also came with a $50 million prize from FIFA.While the trophy now sits in Madrid, a portion of the prize money could ultimately find its way to Washington.That’s because many of the players, coaching staff and referees who earned income during the tournament may have also incurred U.S. tax obligations.
It doesn’t stop there: the Spanish players will also have tax implications back home. According to RCM Legal, 17 of the 26 Spanish national players will be obligated to pay taxes to the European nation.
“Those who are tax residents in Spain are taxed on their worldwide income,” RCM Legal said in a report. “This is the situation for international players who play for Spanish clubs, such as LamineYamal, a footballer for FC Barcelona.”
Colloquially named “jock tax,” athletes performing services inside the United States are generally subject to U.S. taxation on income earned for those services, even if they are non-residents. Artists and actors are also applicable to these tax implications.
For its part, FIFA has regularly secured tax exemptions from its host nations since 2010, the year the Spanish National Team last hoisted the illustrious World Cup trophy. Since then, South Africa, Brazil, Russia and Qatar had all granted tax relief covering FIFA and the teams tax implications.
The US, however, does not appear to be following the same footsteps. The IRS’ tax playbook for the 2026 FIFA World Cup outlines that international athletes are subject to federal income tax “connected to services performed in the United States.”
Tax treaties alleviate athlete tax bills This comes following a joint agreement between the IRS, the Canada Revenue Agency, and Mexico’s Servicio de Administración Tributaria (SAT) to find a reasonable method for allocating FIFA World Cup compensation and the tax withholdings. The consensus found that tax compensation would be calculated based on the number of matches played in each host country compared to the number of the team’s total matches.
“The United States is not taking a double-dip here,” Richard Koenigsberg, national lead partner of entertainment and media at EisnerAmper, told Fortune. “This is really about which country gets the tax.”
The distinction matters because Spain, like dozens of other countries, has a bilateral tax treaty with the United States specifically designed to prevent double taxation. Without these treaties, athletes could theoretically owe full tax bills in both countries.
Instead, Koenigsberg said the treaties largely eliminate that outcome.
“If you have a Spanish resident that earned income in the US,” he said, “your home country may give you a credit for the US tax paid.”
That does not necessarily mean the athlete pays whichever country’s taxes come first.
“Ultimately, you end up paying the higher of the two countries’ tax,” Koenigsberg said.
According to a note by Andrew Wilford, the Director of State Policy at the National Taxpayers Union Foundation, he calculates that the Spanish National team would be subject to an average all-in tax rate of 31.66%, with a base camp all-in tax rate of 30%.
The report, “Which World Cup Team Got the Worst Group Stage (Tax) Draw?”, published in June, did not calculate Spain’s final tax rate following the conclusion of the tournament.
Federal taxes are not the only concern for the Spanish athletes, however. Due to the locations of the World Cup matches, the players may also be susceptible to domestic state tax.
A tax liability Spain played matches in Georgia, California, Texas and New Jersey throughout the World Cup tournament, meaning the team also has to foot the bill of each of the state taxes that come with it.
Those state obligations can materially increase an athlete’s overall tax responsibility, Koenigsberg mentioned.
“When you add in New Jersey or California on top of that, it could approach anywhere from 36% to 41%,” he said.
The prize money itself is distributed to the RFEF (Royal Spanish Football Federation), who then distributes it to the players. According to the agreement between the RFEF and the players, 45% of the winnings will be distributed among the athletes as a bonus.These bonuses are generally not viewed differently than ordinary income compensation in the eyes of the tax law.
“Any bonus is just an additional form of compensation,” Koenigsberg said. That means the payments are generally allocated according to where the services, or in this case, matches were played.
However, exactly how FIFA distributes prize money remains less clear. Konigsberg cautioned that neither FIFA’s contractual arrangements with national federations nor Spain’s agreements with its players are fully transparent.
“No one sitting here knows what’s in the FIFA agreements with their players as to how they get paid,” he said.
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