The 2026 FIFA World Cup is awarding $655 million in performance prize money, making it the richest tournament in the competition’s history. Every stage of the tournament came with a larger financial reward, giving teams another incentive to advance as far as possible. Performance prize money has increased nearly 50% since 2022, when FIFA awarded $440 million.
This Markets in a Minute graphic, created by Visual Capitalist's Julia Wnedling, in partnership with Terzo, breaks down how the $655 million performance prize pool is distributed across every stage of the tournament. From group stage participants to the eventual champion, it shows the earnings of every qualifying country.
Spain Takes Home the World CupSpain captured the 2026 FIFA World Cup title and the tournament’s top prize of $50 million, while runner-up Argentina earned $33 million. It marks Spain’s second World Cup championship after previously lifting the trophy in 2010, capping off an impressive tournament run that also included victories over Belgium and France in the knockout stage.
The final remained scoreless through 90 minutes, despite Spain controlling much of the play and Argentina finishing regulation with 10 men. The deadlock finally broke in the 106th minute, when Ferran Torres scored just after the start of the second period of extra time.
Raising the World Cup StakesEngland ultimately earned $29 million by defeating France 6–4 in the third-place playoff. Bukayo Saka scored a hat trick as England survived a four-goal French comeback. France collected $27 million, while Kylian Mbappé scored twice and finished the match as the World Cup’s all-time leading scorer.
The four quarterfinal exits each earned $19 million. Morocco lost to France. Belgium fell after Mikel Merino scored Spain’s winner in the 88th minute. Norway led England through Andreas Schjelderup, but two Jude Bellingham goals completed a comeback. Switzerland pushed Argentina into extra time before falling.
Reaching the Last Eight Pays OffAdvancing deep into the World Cup delivers meaningful financial rewards. Teams eliminated in the Round of 16 received $15 million. Reaching the Round of 32 was worth $11 million, compared with $9 million for a group stage exit.
The expanded 48-team format means more nations share in FIFA’s record prize pool. Still, every knockout victory unlocks a larger payout, making each match increasingly valuable.
Every Win CountsWorld Cup prize money has never been higher, reflecting the tournament’s growing commercial success. But for national federations and organizations alike, maximizing value isn’t just about generating more revenue. It’s also about making the most of every dollar that’s earned.
That’s true in business as well. While companies focus on growing the top line, improving profitability often starts with controlling the costs hidden in everyday contracts.
Tyler Durden Mon, 07/20/2026 - 08:25Constellation Energy already runs the largest nuclear fleet in the United States and has spent the last couple of years signing big power deals with data center operators and retailers to restart reactors and keep existing plants online longer.
With Microsoft taking the restarted Three Mile Island unit and Meta locking up output from Clinton, Constellation is now looking for developers to help them bring new capacity online faster.
Their most recent move is a strategic equity investment in Blue Energy through Constellation Technology Ventures (CTV). This targets Blue Energy's shipyard-based prefabrication and project financing model for small modular reactors.
As we reported earlier on the GE Vernova collaboration, Blue Energy is advancing a phased gas-to-nuclear approach at a planned Texas site. Two GE Vernova gas turbines would deliver roughly 1 GW starting around 2030, with the steam supply later shifting to GE Vernova Hitachi BWRX-300 reactors targeting up to 1.5 GW of nuclear capacity. Early site works could begin this year ahead of a final investment decision in 2027.
The CTV check marks the first investment by that unit in an American nuclear developer focused on SMRs. Terms remain undisclosed, but based on CTV’s deal size across prior energy tech investments ($4 million in SWTCH), this one likely lands in the single-digit millions.
The real value sits in the partnership signal rather than the capital itself. Constellation runs 21 reactors across multiple sites with capacity factors above 90%. An operator with that track record lending credibility to a new deployment model carries more weight than another venture check.
Blue Energy's approach attacks the construction and financing bottlenecks that have plagued new nuclear for decades. Large modules get fabricated in existing shipyards using robotic methods borrowed from offshore oil, gas, and LNG projects, then barged to site. The design keeps a clean split between the nuclear island supplied by the vendor and the balance-of-plant work done under fixed-price commercial contracts.
That structure, paired with the NRC-approved licensing topical report, is meant to unlock project financing on a meaningful chunk of capex for the first time on a nuclear project.
The goal remains power in 48 months or less via the gas bridge instead of the conventional decade-plus timeline.
Tyler Durden Mon, 07/20/2026 - 07:45This week, Darializa Avila Chevalier was asked if there has ever been a “successful model of socialism anywhere in the world outside the United States in terms of both human rights and widespread economic justice.”
The member of the Democratic Socialists of America responded by citing Sweden and Norway.
It is a common false claim made by socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders and others.
I address the claim head-on in Rage and the Republic.
DSA figures have been claiming that the socialist measures that they are pushing are proven successes in other countries. They often raise the Scandinavian myth. Here is an excerpt from Rage and the Republic:
‘Leaders such as Senator Bernie Sanders have heralded the alleged success of “democratic socialism” in Europe, a pitch that is obviously taking hold with many younger Americans. Sanders and others often refer to the prosperity of Scandinavian socialism, including Sweden and Norway. It is a dangerous myth that is promulgated by many in the media. The question is not whether Scandinavian socialism can work in the United States (it cannot) but whether Scandinavian socialism can work in Scandinavia. Sweden is a particularly curious choice as a model for democratic socialism. In reality, Sweden shows not only the success of capitalism but also the limits of socialism even in a relatively small nation. Sweden turned away from the type of socialist theories increasingly in vogue in the United States.
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The Scandinavian countries also differ from the United States in other key ways. For example, Norway has largely sustained large public welfare systems through oil revenues. The country imposes a corporate income tax rate of 78 percent on extractive activities to fund its public welfare programs…
Countries like Denmark and Sweden are strong adherents to capitalist principles and are listed among the most capitalist nations on Earth. Indeed, leaders often express surprise by American references to their socialist principles. In 2015, the Danish Prime Minister Lars Rasmussen observed, “I know that some people in the U.S. associate the Nordic model with some sort of socialism. Therefore, I would like to make one thing clear. Denmark is far from a socialist planned economy. Denmark is a market economy.” Likewise, Social Democratic Minister of Finance Kjell‐Olof Feldt stated “That whole thing with democratic socialism was absolutely impossible. It just didn’t work.”
As I discuss, these countries are not only committed to capitalism but also ranked among the most free-market economies in the world. These countries are also very different from the United States:
“When socialism was tried in larger nations in Europe, such as France under François Mitterrand, it failed, and capitalist measures had to be restored. In 2025, the populations of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway are approximately 5.9 million, 10.6 million, and 5.6 million—smaller than many American states.”
The DSA and the American left, including many in the media, continue to sell the public a bill of goods on the success of Scandinavian socialism. Ironically, it is the type of disinformation that the left often cites to justify greater censorship. Despite denials from these very countries, socialists in the United States continue to spread this false claim that there is a socialist paradise over the ocean where collectivists labor in picturesque Nordic fishing villages.
The promulgation of such myths is a central feature of Marxism.
Lenin stressed that “we must not confine ourselves exclusively to propaganda in the narrow sense of the word.” Stalin likewise warned that “If our Party propaganda for some reason or other goes lame…then our entire state and Party work must inevitably languish.”
The fact is that socialism has repeatedly failed throughout history.
The only way to get a people to embrace it is to rewrite that history. That is precisely what we see not only in the United States, but in the recent claims of incoming British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, who condemned the privatization policies of Margaret Thatcher: “The country surrendered control of the essentials — housing, water, energy, transport — and left people exposed to higher costs.” What he does not mention is that she followed the collapse of socialist policies under Labour Prime Minister James Callaghan in 1977–78 during the so-called “winter of discontent,” which I also discuss in the book.
Chevalier is a true believer who has praised Marxism and the concept of “seizing the means of production.” She won her primary despite comments bragging about her using the American flag to wipe her hands and criticizing the dating of white women as Black and Arab men “Fetishizing ugly colonizer women.”
Given that history, the adoption of the Scandinavian socialism myth is par for the course. Like Zohran Mamdani, she is rallying young, disillusioned, college-educated voters who are told that their struggles stem from the failures of the free market. Instead, they are offered free stuff and the illusion of an economic nirvana where lattes and Pilates are virtually costless.
Indeed, the Scandinavian socialism myth is so enticing that I expect Scandinavians must wonder where they can also find it.
Jonathan Turley is a law professor and the New York Times best-selling author of “Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution.”
Tyler Durden Mon, 07/20/2026 - 07:20