The Seattle Sounders wore shirts in the warm-up for the team’s game against Minnesota United on Sunday reading “Club World Ca$h Grab,” in protest over the manner in which bonuses from participating in the Club World Cup are being distributed.
Afterwards, the MLS Players Association released a statement expressing solidarity with the Sounders players who, according to the statement “demanded a fair share of Fifa Club World Cup prize money.”
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“Fifa’s new tournament piles on to players’ ever-increasing workload without regard to their physical well-being,” the statement reads, before pointing out that Fifa will pay MLS teams large amounts (about $9.5m) to participate in the tournament. “Despite this windfall, the league has refused to allocate a fair percentage of those funds to the players themselves.”
Related: LAFC stun Club América in extra time to qualify for Club World Cup
In addition to the $9.5m for participating in the tournament, clubs earn more based on performance in the games, drawing from a Fifa prize pool of around $475m. However, the current collective bargaining agreement between the league and its players stipulates that players can only earn 50% of bonuses from outside tournament, capped at $1m for the entire team.
In effect, that makes for an initial 90/10 split of prize money, with the ratio potentially getting worse if MLS teams advance in the competition.
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The MLSPA said in its statement that the players have sought to meet with MLS to make changes to the arrangement, but that the league has “failed to bring forward a reasonable proposal.”
Fifa itself does not have any rules governing how teams distribute prize money between front office, players, and associated parties.
The Club World Cup will feature three MLS teams: Inter Miami, who were nominated to the field by Fifa president Gianni Infantino, the Sounders and now Los Angeles FC, who qualified via a one-game playoff.
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