Do players get paid to play for England? How much do the men’s team earn, will they get a World Cup 2022 bonus

Gareth Southgate has selected his 26 man England squad ahead of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

For many, simply competing in the World Cup is viewed as the pinnacle achievement for a professional footballer and receiving an England cap is viewed as a distinct achievement given the calibre of players that Southgate has at his disposal.

The Three Lions will be aiming to progress from a group consisting of Iran, United States and Wales. But are England players paid for representing their country and do they receive a bonus if they advance to the later stages of the competition?

Here is everything you need to know.

Do players get paid to play for England?

Gareth Southgate’s England team will be paid for representing their country during the World Cup in Qatar, though their wages will be significantly less than the amount that they receive when playing in the Premier League for their club side.

The England squad members are given a standard match fee for every match that they participate in and an the opportunity for additional bonuses as they progress through each stage of the tournament.

The FA are reported to have paid each player in the starting line up a salary of £2,500 at the 2014 World Cup. While the rest of the squad also earned a salary of £1,500.

Four years later in Russia, it is believed that the Three Lions would receive a further £5 million in bonuses if they lifted the World Cup trophy. That would equate to around £215,000 per player.

This would go alongside the potential prize money of winning the FIFA World Cup which is believed to be around £29 million.

Do England players donate their wages to charity?

Since 2007, all members of the England team have donated their appearance fees to the England Footballers Foundation Charity and it is estimated that the group has raised over £5 million over the last 15 years.

Former England goalkeeper Ben Foster spoke about the way England wages work on his YouTube channel Fozcast. Foster said: “The way England works is you get a match fee for playing the game. It’s nothing major. It’s maybe - I say nothing major - in broader football terms it’s nothing major. You might be talking two grand a game or something. But every single player’s match fee has always been signed off to charity.”

However, the former Manchester United goalkeeper explains that there are further opportunities to gain money through sponsorship deals. Foster said: “Everybody who is a sponsor of England, whether it’s McDonalds, or Carlsberg, Heineken, no matter what it is. All of that gets put into a big pot. The players will then receive a certain percent. I don’t know the exact amount but I can’t be sure. I’ll throw something out there, like maybe it’s 20% or something.”

The EFF website explains: “The England Footballers Foundation has proudly supported many charities including the Bobby Moore fund for Cancer Research UK, UNICEF, OnSide, Rays of Sunshine, The Honeypot Children’s Charity, WellChild, Together for Short Lives, Cancer Research UK, Help For Heroes, The British Forces Foundation, The PFA’s charitable initiative and many others.”