Newcastle United set to receive Yoane Wissa & Sandro Tonali compensation after FIFA rule change
A FIFA change will see Newcastle United and clubs across the world benefit from the 2026 World Cup.
Newcastle United have several World Cup hopefuls ahead of next summer’s tournament in North America.
Anthony Gordon, Tino Livramento, Dan Burn and Lewis Hall have all been part of the England set-up recently while Bruno Guimaraes and Joelinton have represented Brazil. Sandro Tonali is a regular in the Italy team and Nick Woltemade was part of the latest Germany squad.
But those are just a few of the players looking to be at the World Cup next summer, and so far only Brazil are guaranteed qualification.
While it remains to be seen just how many representatives Newcastle have at the 2026 tournament, the club are guaranteed to receive a small financial boost from FIFA following a slight change to the club payout rules.
The Magpies received a financial package from FIFA following the last World Cup in Qatar as the club had Bruno Guimaraes, Fabian Schar, Nick Pope, Kieran Trippier and Callum Wilson all represented the club. The club also received a financial bonus from former player DeAndre Yedlin representing the United States national team as the
In 2022, FIFA set aside £189million for clubs that had players representing nations at the World Cup in Qatar. Each club received £9,000 per player for every day that player was away with their national team in Qatar.
However, clubs were only entitled to the full £9,000 amount if that player was signed at least two years before the start of the tournament. If a player was signed inside that window, then the money will be shared proportionally with his previous employers.
It’s that rule that saw Newcastle entitled to a small fee for Yedlin, who left the club in 2021.
Now, ahead of the 2026 World Cup, FIFA has announced a change that will see Newcastle benefit even more this time around.
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FIFA announce compensation package for clubs - including NUFC
Earlier this month, FIFA confirmed its club compensation fund has increased to £266million for the 2026 World Cup.
FIFA also revealed that the process that saw clubs compensated for players going away on international duty will now also apply to qualifying matches.
A FIFA statement read: “This new approach means that any club that releases a player for a FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifier will now be directly compensated.”
Newcastle recently had 10 first-team players join up with their respective countries for World Cup qualifiers during the latest international break. Odysseas Vlachodimos, who is currently on loan at Sevilla, also joined up with the Greece squad.
Anthony Gordon, Tino Livramento, Dan Burn, Bruno Guimaraes, Sandro Tonali, Emil Krafth, Anthony Elanga, William Osula, Nick Woltemade and most notably Yoane Wissa joined up with their national teams during the September international break.
Wissa’s involvement in World Cup qualifiers with DR Congo was particularly contentious given the forward had only just signed for Newcastle, hadn’t had a pre-season or played any football since May. The 29-year-old then started two matches for DR Congo in the space of four days, picking up a knee injury in the second match against Senegal that has since sidelined him for at least six weeks.
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NUFC set to receive Yoane Wissa compensation
Wissa’s injury has come as a huge blow for Newcastle, who have limited striker options during the opening months of the season.
But the recent FIFA change does offer a silver lining of sorts for the club as they will at least be compensated for allowing Wissa to join up with his country. The same goes for the likes of Tonali, Guimaraes, Gordon and the rest of Newcastle’s internationals.
In addition, Newcastle have reportedly applied to FIFA for further compensation as part of the Club Protection Programme, an insurance scheme that covers clubs who have had players injured on international duty and subsequently ruled out for at least 28 days.
According to Mail Online, the Club Protection Programme will cover Wissa’s wages from October 7 until he makes his debut for Newcastle. Eddie Howe has suggested the trip to Brighton & Hove Albion as a potential injury return date for Wissa.