Sunderland will benefit from their historic presence at this summer’s World Cup
Switzerland's quarter-final defeat to Argentina in the early hours of Sunday morning brought an end to Sunderland's involvement in the FIFA World Cup, a historic period for the club in which they had twelve representatives at the competition.
To have so many players making history with their nations is a source of huge pride at the club, particularly with academy graduate Jordan Pickford continuing to star in goal for England and with Jordan Henderson a huge influence behind the scenes. Sunderland's strong presence at the competition and the success so many of their players enjoyed will also bring a small cash boost for the club, with FIFA expected to pay a seven-figure sum to the Black Cats as part of the Club Benefit Programme. Clubs are compensated by FIFA for each day their player is at the tournament, and this time around the governing body have estimated that the expanded competition will mean a sum of around €5,000.
Wilson Isidor was the only Sunderland player to be knocked out at the group stage, though he still made history by scoring a stunning goal in Haiti's final fixture. With clubs also compensated for the days in camp leading into the tournament, we can estimate that Isidor's stint will lead to a payment somewhere in the region of €125,000. This will increase to somewhere around €150,000 for the eight players knocked out in the round of 32: Robin Roefs, Lutsharel Geertruida (whose loan from RB Leipzig is thought to have run until June 30th), Brian Brobbey, Noah Sadiki, Arthur Masuaku, Nilson Angulo, Habib Diarra and Simon Adingra.
Omar Alderete's Paraguay performed superbly to reach the last 16 of the competition, where they were eventually defeated by France - those extra days in camp mean Sunderland can expect to net somewhere in the region of €175,000. For Chemsdine Talbi and Granit Xhaka, this is likely to edge close to €200,000. In total that will mean a payment somewhere in the region of €1.55 million, or £1,160,000.
The total payment will likely be slightly higher, as FIFA also pays out €2,362 for each qualification fixture a player is involved in. That means the total figure in the cases of players such as Xhaka, Sadiki and Alderete who featured numerous times in qualification after signing for the club will be boosted that little bit further. This is of course pretty small fry compared to the vast sums generated by the Premier League, but will offset the club's wage bill ever so slightly during the summer months. In an SCR world, every little helps.
Sunderland's World Cup cohort will now begin a phased return to Wearside, with some players knocked out earlier in the tournament set to link up with the squad for their trip to the USA next week. Xhaka and Talbi will now have a well-earned break and will likely return ahead of the club's final pre-season fixtures in August.
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