The 2025/26 Premier League season is now well underway, with clubs fighting once more to claim the top spot in one of the top leagues in the world.
However, players around the world won’t only have their respective leagues in their mind, but also international call-ups, as the 2026 World Cup is just around the corner.
European qualifiers have just gotten underway during the September international break, whilst other continents are already well underway.
The Africa and Asia qualifications are due to be confirmed in October, with Morocco and Tunisia already safely in the tournament, as well as Australia, IR Iran, Uzbekistan, Jordan, Korea Republic and Japan.
The South America qualifiers have completely finished now, with Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Uruguay all qualifying, as New Zealand have also qualified from Oceania, and Canada, Mexico, and USA gaining automatic entry as co-hosts.
With only 18 of the 48 slots claimed, there’s still so much to play for, with FIFA now set to promote clubs to release their stars for the qualifying matches and the finals at the end of the season.
Sky Sports have reported that FIFA are set to pay 70% more to clubs who release their players for international duty relating to the 2026 World Cup, seeing the organisation set to pay out £260 million across all clubs.
For Manchester United this is a huge announcement with several of their senior squad being routinely being called up for international duties.
Diogo Dalot and Bruno Fernandes are staples of the Portugal squad, Patrick Dorgu is Denmark’s current first-choice left-back, with Matthijs de Ligt also being routinely called-up for the Netherlands and Altay Bayindir much the same for Turkey.
Elsewhere, Casemiro and Matheus Cunha getting routine call-ups for Carlo Ancelotti’s Brazil side, whilst Manuel Ugarte is a regular for Uruguay and same with Amad Diallo and the Ivory Coast.
Much like Matheus Cunha has joined the squad as an already established international star, fellow new signings Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko have also been established in the Cameroon and Slovenia sides for some time now.
As such, United will be set to receive some of this massive pot, at a time when boosting revenue at Old Trafford is much needed.
BREAKING: FIFA are set to give 70% more money to all clubs who release players for World Cup Qualifiers and the World Cup Finals. 🚨
£260million will be shared between all clubs. pic.twitter.com/IPdZVvZCLD
— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) September 16, 2025
