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Playing in a World Cup is one of the greatest honours a footballer can have. It means representing your country on the biggest stage. The eyes of the world are on you. Many of us would play this tournament for free, but players and federations are paid to do so.
The Qatar Cup is just a few months away and betting on your favorite team is always a good idea and entering great betting sites like Betway is even better because here are the best sites with the highest odds to do so.
Are there prizes?
All over the world for four years, they play the qualifiers to be one of the 32 that will play in the venue that was previously chosen. It is very complicated to play in a World Cup, and several heavyweights have been left out of the competition, although it is thought that they only lose prestige, this is not the case.
Just for participating, the national teams receive 9 million dollars, an important amount of money for the team’s plans and infrastructure, and obviously, the players receive prizes for having qualified.
Those 9 million is just for participating, even if they are eliminated in the first round, they get that generous amount, so teams that normally go to their first World Cup, get a strong economic stimulus, that’s why they are so happy to qualify.
Now, if they make it to the round of 16, the prize is even bigger. 13 million dollars for reaching the knockout stage. An unenviable prize. Just for the record, from 1994 to 2018, only Mexico and Brazil qualified for the last 16 in every World Cup. Quite a lot of money is assured.
A place in the quarter-finals obviously brings a bigger prize. 17 million for reaching the last four. For many teams to get here is to make history, but it also means having money to meet the expenses of the next four years.
Reaching the semi-finals means being in the top 4 of the continent, making sure to play all 7 matches, and living a month of total pressure. The losers of the semis secure the third and fourth place match.
Reaching the semi-finals secures a prize of 25 million for fourth place and 27 million for third place. These are big prizes. But a fourth-place finish is nothing to write home about.
This match is the one nobody wants to play, but nobody wants to lose. The only thing that is assured is a prize that makes the federations’ executives smile.
And the champion?
To reach the final of the World Cup is to be in the Olympus of football. It is basically to immortalise your name in the history of your country and to fight for one of the most beautiful trophies in the world.
Whoever wins has the right to hold the priceless trophy for two years and then receive a replica to show off in their trophy cabinet. The reason is that the trophy is the property of FIFA and is only “loaned” to the winner for two years.
The original stays in a bank vault in Switzerland and is more guarded than the Mona Lisa. This adds an aura of mysticism that no trophy in the world has.
But don’t think there is no financial prize. For the runner-up, 30 million dollars to heal the wound of losing the most important match in your history.
For the winner, apart from the trophy, a star above the shield and worldwide prestige. His bank account also increases by some 42 million dollars. It is one of the tournaments that pay the most to win, but it is also one of the most complicated because it takes four years of struggle and sacrifice.
Who gets the cup and the 42 million dollars in Qatar, in 2022?