The U.S. men’s and women’s national soccer teams will equally share 80% of the prize money earned at the 2026 and 2027 World Cups.
FIFA announced a record $655 million prize pool for the 2026 men’s World Cup, a nearly 50% increase from 2022.
U.S. Soccer is the only federation in the world that splits FIFA prize money equally between its men’s and women’s teams.

This week, FIFA released prize money figures for the 2026 World Cup, and the record-setting $655 million pool for the men’s tournament is also significant for the U.S. women’s national team.

Why? Because they’ll get a cut of whatever prize money the U.S. men earn this summer.

The collective bargaining agreement between the U.S. Soccer Federation and the women’s national team (USWNT), signed in 2022 and effective through 2028, requires that the U.S. men’s and women’s teams pool and equally share 80% of the prize money earned by each team at the 2026 World Cup and the 2027 World Cup.

In addition to awarding guaranteed participation payments to each team that qualifies for the World Cup, FIFA distributes prize money to teams based on how far they advance in the tournament.

For example, if the U.S. men advance to the round of 16 at this summer’s World Cup, a tournament the U.S. is co-hosting with Canada and Mexico, they will earn at least $15 million in prize money. After allotting 20% of that to U.S. Soccer, the national governing body, the men’s and women’s teams will each get at least $6 million.

The catch is that since this summer’s tournament expanded the field from 32 teams to 48 teams, teams must win one more game to get into the round of 16.

The announced prize money for 2026 represents a nearly 50% increase from the men’s 2022 World Cup and is nearly six times the $110 million total pot from the 2023 women’s World Cup. It could also have ramifications for the women’s 2027 World Cup in Brazil.

Will FIFA award equal prize money for the 2027 women’s World Cup?

In 2023, FIFA president Gianni Infantino said his goal was to offer equal prize money for the men’s and women’s World Cups by 2027.

FIFA has not addressed the issue since then and has not yet announced the pot for the 2027 women’s tournament.

In his comments to FIFA Congress two years ago, Infantino called on broadcasters and commercial partners to ‘do more’ to help the sport’s international governing body offer equal pay – despite the fact that 2023 was the first time the women’s World Cup was sold to broadcasters as a standalone tournament after FIFA previously offered it as a free add-on to the broadcasting rights for the men’s tournament.

‘Our ambition is to have equality in payments for the 2026 Men’s and 2027 Women’s World Cup,’ Infantino said. ‘This is the objective that we set to ourselves. FIFA is stepping up with actions, not just with words. But unfortunately this is not the case of everyone across the industry. Broadcasters and sponsors have to do more. FIFA is receiving between 10 and 100 times inferior offers for the Women’s World Cup. These same public broadcasters, who are paid by taxpayers’ money, they criticise FIFA for not guaranteeing equal pay to men and women. You pay us 100 times less, whereby your viewing figures are very similar.’

The prize money for the 2023 women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand increased 300% from the 2019 tournament, which offered a $30 million pot. Still, during the last World Cup cycle there remained a sizable gap in prize money between the men’s and women’s tournaments.

The USWNT, winners of four World Cups and five Olympic gold medals, are historically more successful than their male counterparts, who have never won the World Cup or the Olympics. But the $4 million prize the USWNT received for winning the 2019 World Cup is less than what the U.S. men earned for their round-of-16 elimination in 2022 ($13 million).

Even though FIFA prize money is unequal, U.S. Soccer is the only federation in the world to split that money equally between its men’s and women’s national teams.

The U.S. Soccer collective bargaining agreements first implemented equal FIFA prize money distribution for the 2022 and 2023 World Cups, when 90% of the total prize money won by the respective U.S. teams at those tournaments was split equally between them. Both teams reached the round of 16 and were eliminated there; the USMNT earned $13 million and the USWNT earned $1.9 million, so each team got about $6.7 million.

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Welcome to Week 16 in the NFL! The race to the playoffs is narrowing down. Two teams have clinched postseason berths – the Denver Broncos and Los Angeles Rams – and nine other teams have clinching scenarios this weekend. Thirteen teams have been eliminated from contention … better luck next year!

Before discussing the weekend’s biggest matchups, we’ve lined up some essentials:

Week 16 picks from USA TODAY Sports’ NFL experts
Playoff picture and clinching scenarios for Week 16
It’s fantasy football playoff time! Do you need lineup advice?
Point spreads for every Week 16 game

➤ On tap for Thursday night: Los Angeles Rams at Seattle Seahawks — This isn’t just the best ‘Thursday Night Football’ matchup of 2025, but might be the biggest game of the season so far. The Rams (11-3) currently have the inside track for the NFC’s top seed and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. The Seahawks (also 11-3) only trail the Rams in the standings due to Los Angeles’ win over Seattle in Week 11. This one is also huge for the San Francisco 49ers (10-4), who also have a shot at winning the division. Also paying close attention: the Chicago Bears (10-4). So much is at stake!

➤ Game of the week: Jacksonville Jaguars at Denver Broncos — The AFC South-leading Jaguars (10-4) visit the AFC West-leading Broncos (12-2) in a potential AFC championship game preview. Well, maybe the Buffalo Bills or New England Patriots, or even the Houston Texans or Los Angeles Chargers, might have something to say about that. Anyway, this is a big one in terms of AFC playoff seeding, with both teams coming in hot; the Broncos are riding an 11-game win streak and the Jaguars have won five in a row.

➤ Just going to rank some games I’m interested in watching without giving much context:

Green Bay Packers at Chicago Bears
Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Carolina Panthers
Pittsburgh Steelers at Detroit Lions
San Francisco 49ers at Indianapolis Colts
New England Patriots at Baltimore Ravens

The 212th meeting between the Bears and Packers lost a lot of luster when Green Bay suffered a myriad of key injuries in last week’s loss in Denver, most notably to star pass rusher Micah Parsons. The Buccaneers and Panthers – both entering Week 16 with identical 7-7 records – face off twice in the season’s final three weeks. A 44-year-old grandpa quarterback, Philip Rivers, against the 49ers on ‘Monday Night Football’? Yes, please!

TNF BETTING LOCK

Jaxon Smith-Njigba 100-plus yards receiving (+110). Smith-Njigba is having a career year – leading the NFL with a career-high 1,541 receiving yards – and we’re expecting his season-long success to continue against the Rams. In the two teams’ meeting in Week 11, Smith-Njigba had 105 yards receiving. Playing in the friendly confines of Lumen Field can only help his chances of matching that yardage total.

*Odds per BetMGM (as of publication; odds subject to change)

ONE BOLD PREDICTION

➤ The Bears will steamroll the Packers. Coming off an absolutely demoralizing loss in Denver will be tough enough, but the Packers must turn around and get amped up for a second showdown in three weeks against their longtime rival. The Bears rebounded nicely from their Week 14 loss in Green Bay to trounce a hapless Cleveland Browns team. Soldier Field will be rocking for this Saturday night showdown. We’ve already predicted that the Bears will win the NFC North in this space, and a win Saturday gives Chicago the inside track in the division with two games to play.

HOT READS

The best NFL reads from USA TODAY and our Sports Network:

The Rams and Seahawks meet on ‘Thursday Night Football.’ They also are one-two in the latest power rankings.

Tua Tagovailoa has been benched in favor of rookie Quinn Ewers. So, what’s next for player and team? Should the Dolphins cut bait on the quarterback? Not so fast, writes Nate Davis. There are three key factors that complicate the Tua situation in South Florida. All that ‘Tank for Tua’ stuff from 2019 seems really silly now. You know what else is silly? Fans rooting for their teams to lose games in order to get a better draft position. The state of affairs with Tua in Miami is a good reminder of that.

Now that longtime playoff nemesis Kansas City has been eliminated from the playoffs, the Bills – who have been eliminated by the Chiefs from the playoffs four times since 2020 – see a clearer path to the Super Bowl, Jarrett Bell writes.

A reimagining is due in Kansas City with the Chiefs missing the playoffs for the first time since 2014. Nate Davis presents a seven-step plan for the team to restore itself to championship relevance a year from now.

Despite being a Heisman Trophy finalist, Diego Pavia’s NFL draft prospects weren’t strong (not to mention he’s older than current NFL starters Drake Maye, J.J. McCarthy, Cam Ward and Jaxson Dart). The Vanderbilt QB had the profile of a late-round pick or undrafted free agent. Then, the Heisman ceremony happened and Pavia committed a massive unforced error. Ripping Heisman voters and then posting a social media video from the club flipping off a sign that read ‘(expletive) Indiana’ won’t exactly endear him to NFL teams. Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz writes that the blowback only hurts Pavia’s delicate draft situation.

This week, Netflix revealed that Snoop Dogg will perform during halftime of the Lions-Vikings game on Christmas Day.

FANTASY ESSENTIALS

If you’ve made it this far in your fantasy football playoffs: Congrats! Optimize those lineups to continue the championship chase …

Week 16 Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em: Quarterbacks | Running backs | Wide receivers | Tight ends

RACE FOR NO. 1 PICK IN 2026 DRAFT

Here is a look at which teams hold top-10 picks in the 2026 NFL Draft going into Week 16:

New York Giants (2-12)
Las Vegas Raiders (2-12)
Tennessee Titans (2-12)
Cleveland Browns (3-11)
New York Jets (3-11)
Arizona Cardinals (3-11)
Washington Commanders (4-10)
New Orleans Saints (4-10)
Cincinnati Bengals (4-10)
Los Angeles Rams (from Atlanta Falcons, 5-9)

ON THIS DAY IN NFL HISTORY

93 years ago today, on Dec. 18, 1932, the NFL held its first playoff game. It was weird.

A first-place tie between the Portsmouth Spartans and Chicago Bears necessitated a one-game playoff to determine the league champion – in the 12 years prior, the NFL title-winner was decided based on best regular-season record. Sometimes that led to controversies that continue to this day.

In 1932, the Spartans (a franchise that would become the Detroit Lions in 1934) and Bears each finished with six wins and one loss (the Spartans had four ties; the Bears had six. Yes, six!). The two teams had squared off twice during the season, but those games ended in (you guessed it!) ties. The 1932 league championship was to be determined on the field. And that’s where the tale of the first NFL playoff game goes sideways.

The game was originally scheduled to be played at Wrigley Field. However, a blizzard forced the game indoors at Chicago Stadium. Yes, Chicago Stadium, an arena that was home to the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks (and eventually the NBA’s Chicago Bulls). The 1932 championship tilt was the first NFL game (that counted) played indoors. Basically, the first NFL championship game was played inside an ice hockey rink. Special rules were put into place for a game that would be played on a field that only had 60 yards between goal lines and was 45 yards wide. Just look at this setup!

The Bears won the game, 9-0. The game’s lone touchdown came on a Bronko Nagurski pass to Red Grange, which the Spartans argued was not thrown from at least 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage, as the rules of the time dictated. The disputed score stood. A new passing rule set in 1933 and enjoyed to this day would forever change the game: the forward pass would be legal from any point behind the line of scrimmage.

This game also featured the sorta-kinda use of hash marks (the ball was placed so it wouldn’t be too close to the hockey boards). The next season, the NFL officially would adopt hash marks, ending an era (going back six decades if you count the college game) in which the ball was placed where the previous play ended.

In 1933, the NFL divided its teams into two divisions and began hosting official championship games. Those games would evolve into what football fans know today as the Super Bowl.

The extemporaneous 1932 playoff manifested an updated forward pass rule, hash marks, divisions and an annual championship game, thus making it one of the seminal moments in NFL history.

If you enjoy reading 4th and Monday , encourage your football fan friends to subscribe . Follow the writer of this newsletter on social media @jimreineking and drop a line if you want to talk some football

First-year coach Will Wade and NC State men’s basketball are off to a decent start in 2025, with an 8-4 record and its only losses to high-major programs Texas, Kansas and Auburn, along with Seton Hall.

And despite the Wolfpack defeating Texas Southern 108-72 on Dec. 17, Wade went on a lengthy rant diving into his concerns with his team.

‘We have a 3.0 GPA,’ Wade told reporters after the game. That’s wonderful, if we’re running a daycare. We run a competitive basketball program. We’ve got a lot of casual personalities on this team.’

Wade continued:

‘(Expletive), it’s concerning it’s taken this long and we’re not there,’ Wade said. ‘And we got all high-major games here on out. Kindergarten’s over. … Yeah, it’s concerning. I played some of those kids tonight, made their Christmas. It’s going to be miserable for me, I made their Christmas, they got their Christmas present a week early playing some of these guys.

‘I’ve been concerned for weeks. We are who we are. I said it a few weeks ago, ‘If you’re not physical and you’re not tough then you better be alert and aware.’ And we’re still none of the four.’

Wade led McNeese to the Round of 32 last season in his third season with the program. The 43-year-old prior coached at Chattanooga, VCU and LSU, where he was fired in 2022 for recruiting violations.

Wade briefly praised McNeese transfer Quadir Copeland and North Carolina transfer Ven-Allen Lubin, touching on their evolving leadership qualities, before going back in on his rant.

Paul McNeil Jr. scored a whopping 47 points with 10 rebounds in 27 minutes, hitting 11 of 17 3-pointers in the win. He also made 12 of 12 free-throw attempts.

‘Casual, lack of attention to detail, lack of focus,’ Wade said. ‘And that’s great when somebody sets the ACC record for made (3-pointers) and the school record for made (3-pointers) in the first half, but we’re relying on hope that one of these cats is going to go ballistic every night. That’s why we rely on, just hope. And hope is a bad strategy in my book.’

Wade, regarded as one of the best hires in the offseason coaching carousel, has a talented roster of transfers, with seven ranked four stars or better by 247Sports, including Williams, a five-star transfer portal prospect.

It appears the first-year NC State coach is attempting to set the tone for the rest of the season, with a matchup against Ole Miss on Dec. 21 before ACC play starts.

‘We got a lot of casual personalities on our team,’ Wade said. ‘We don’t have people that are revved up and ready to go. I had one of the kids come to me, ‘I’m tough, I’m tough.’ I said, ‘(expletive) you’re not in the top 50 of toughest players I’ve coached.’ Not even in the top 50. I don’t want to hear that, you ain’t tough.’

The brother of Los Angeles Rams wide receiver Puka Nacua is one of two men arrested last weekend after allegedly taking an SUV belonging to L.A. Lakers forward Adou Thiero without his consent.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department told NBC 4 Los Angeles that deputies were alerted to the vehicle’s location at One Hotel in West Hollywood, where the suspects were seen on security footage and later arrested.

The two men, both 27, were identified as Trey Rose and Samson Nacua. They face charges of taking a vehicle without the owner’s consent. Authorities say it’s unclear when and where the SUV was allegedly stolen.

Thiero, a second-round draft pick of the Brooklyn Nets this past June, was part of the blockbuster seven-team trade on July 6 that sent star forward Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets.

He’s seen action in only nine games so far this season, averaging 5.8 minutes and 1.1 points per game.

While sports betting’s rampancy since being legalized in May 2018 has been a controversy lightning rod in the past seven-plus years, another player is emerging that is further muddying the waters: Prediction markets.

Predictions markets – exchanges such as Polymarket and Kalshi that allow bets on event outcomes – have come with less regulation than sports gambling. The latter has drawn the attention of the NCAA after Kalshi notified a federal agency on Wednesday, Dec. 17, it is self-certifying on whether college athletes are going to hit the transfer portal. NCAA president Charlie Baker took aim at the decision, saying in a statement:

‘The NCAA vehemently opposes college sports prediction markets. It is already bad enough that student-athletes face harassment and abuse for lost bets on game performance, and now Kalshi wants to offer bets on their transfer decisions and status. This is absolutely unacceptable and would place even greater pressure on student-athletes while threatening competition integrity and recruiting processes.

‘Their decisions and future should not be gambled with, especially in an unregulated marketplace that does not follow any rules of legitimate sports betting operators.’

Last week the NFL also took aim at prediction markets getting involved in a testimony to Congress.

‘We are particularly troubled that several sports-related futures contracts have been launched nationwide, including in jurisdictions where sports betting has not been legalized,’ wrote Jeff Miller, an executive vice president of the NFL, in the testimony, reported by Dustin Gouker. ‘These contracts fall outside the purview of state regulatory authorities and the safeguards they impose upon the industry.’

Other leagues have embraced the prediction market companies, with the NHL and UFC partnering with these types of companies.

Per a spokesperson, Kalshi said: ‘We certify markets all the time that we do not end up listing,’ according to ESPN. But CEO Tarek Mansour has said Kalshi’s ultimate goal is to ‘financialize everything and create a tradable asset out of any difference in opinion.’

The company filed a lawsuit against regulators in Connecticut in early December for the assertion from Connecticut officials that ‘a prediction market wager is not an investment,’ becoming the most recent of a series of legal battles the company is embroiled in.

YouTuber turned boxer Jake Paul is arguably facing the biggest challenger of his career as a pugilist when he squares off against former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua on Friday, Dec. 19, at the Kaseya Center in Miami.

The fight will be streamed on Netflix and will consist of eight three-minute rounds with both men wearing 10-ounce gloves. Paul (12-1, 7 KOs) was originally supposed to fight lightweight champion Gervonta ‘Tank’ Davis in November before Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs) stepped in to take his place.

But while the action in the ring will certainly get attention, so will Paul’s fiancée, Jutta Leerdam. Leerdam is an accomplished speed skater.

Who is Jutta Leerdam?

The 26-year-old Leerdam, who is from The Netherlands, is a professional speed skater, specializing in long-track sprint events.

She and Paul confirmed their relationship in 2023 and got engaged in March 2025.

She also has a large following on social media, with nearly five million followers on Instagram and 1.8 million on TikTok.

Speed skating success

Leerdam started speed skating at age 11 and is a former field hockey player.

She has won seven gold medals at the European Championships, in the sprint and 1000-meter races. She also has a silver medal from the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing.

Leerdam says she is gearing up to compete at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy, but first must qualify during the Dutch Olympic Trials, which start Dec. 26.

‘I’ve already achieved so many things. Dutch titles make me incredibly happy, but there’s one thing I still need: Olympic gold,’ Leerdam said. The 1,000 meters are coming in Milan. ‘I’m so hyper-focused on one competition. When I’m there, it could suddenly go really well, even though it hasn’t quite worked out all year.’