Lionel Messi and Argentina have won three major international competitions in the past four years: two Copa América titles and a World Cup. Yet the prize pools have been all over the place.
In 2021, the team got $6.5 million for its Copa América win.
In 2022, the squad raked in $42 million by winning the World Cup.
On Sunday, Argentina earned $16 million for its record-breaking 16th Copa América title.
Between the two Copas, the prize pool greatly expanded to $72 million. This year, all 16 participating teams got $2 million, while the winner received $16 million, according to ESPN. The runner-up earned $7 million, third place $5 million, and fourth place $4 million, the outlet reported.
That total amount is nearly four times the size of the $19.5 million prize pool distributed in 2021, as well as the $21.5 million pot doled out in ’16. In both cases, champions Argentina and Chile took home $6.5 million.
Despite a poor performance from the U.S. men on the pitch, playing the tournament in North America in recent years has helped the tournament—one of the oldest in the world—grow its influence outside South America. The 2016 centennial tournament and final in New Jersey was the first time Copa América was played outside a CONMEBOL member country. That tournament grew from 12 to 16 teams to include more Concacaf members. The ’21 tournament shrank to include only the 10 CONMEBOL member teams, but returned to the larger 16-nation field this year.
But the prize money still pales in comparison to the concurrent and more consistent tournament across the pond. After winning its also record-breaking fourth European Championship, Spain took home about $31 million, while the total prize pot was roughly $357 million, the same as the 2020 tournament.
The biggest chunk of Argentina’s recent riches comes from the World Cup, which also saw a record prize pool in 2022. Each qualifying team took home $1.5 million of the total $440 million, and Argentina received $4 million more than France did for winning in ’18.
How the money actually gets distributed is up to the federation. But $64.5 million in prize money over the last three years should lead to a nice payout for Messi and his teammates, who already have some of the highest wages among players in the tournament. Argentina carried 26 players on its roster at both the Copa and the 2022 World Cup, the maximum number for each tournament.
