Wrexham Set for World Cup Windfall After Two Players Receive Call-Ups

The Red Dragons will be represented at the FIFA World Cup this summer.

A big financial boost. | Focus Images/IMAGO

Wrexham are set to receive a sizeable windfall after two players were called up to represent their respective nations at the World Cup.

Liberato Cacace has been named part of the New Zealand squad for the summer tournament, while club captain Dom Hyam has been included in the Scotland squad. The All Whites have been drawn in Group G alongside Iran, Egypt and Belgium, while the Tartan Army are in Group C alongside Haiti, Morocco and Brazil.

It means both players will be away on international duty until at least late June, while those stays could be extended if either nation progresses to the knockout stages.

With an expanded 48-team tournament, there is also an extended knockout stage, with a round of 32 for the first time in the competition’s history. It means only 16 nations will be eliminated in the group stage, with eight third-place teams also advancing to the knockout phase.

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Wrexham Set for World Cup Windfall

Dom Hyam has only made two senior appearances for Scotland. | Craig Foy/SNS Group via Getty Images

Every club that releases players for participation in the World Cup will be given compensation while they are away at the tournament.

The FIFA Club Benefits Programme compensates not only the club where each participating player is registered at the time of the tournament, but also any other clubs where such players played during the two-year “qualification” phase that preceded the tournament.

In the case of Wrexham, that means Empoli would also receive money from Cacace’s involvement, while Blackburn Rovers will receive a fee for Hyam.

Each impacted club will receive an equal “per player, per day” rate, calculated based on the total number of days all players spend at the tournament. The daily participation rate is then multiplied by the number of days each player spends at the tournament, which covers 10 days before their nation’s opening match until the day after the player’s final appearance.

It means the deeper a player progresses in the tournament, the higher the fee would be. All players in a national team squad are allocated the same fixed rate, regardless of their playing time at the tournament. So an unused substitute across three group matches would still return the same compensation as a star player who plays the entirety of those three matches.

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It has already been confirmed that $355 million will be distributed to clubs that released players for a World Cup qualification game or the World Cup final tournament. That money will be divided by the total number of participation days across the tournament to calculate the “per player, per day” rate.

That means Wrexham are also entitled to additional compensation for the involvement of Danny Ward, Nathan Broadhead, Kieffer Moore (Wales), Issa Kabore (Burkina Faso), and Bailey Cadamarteri (Jamaica), despite their failure to qualify for the World Cup this summer.

While the precise daily rate for the 2026 World Cup can’t be calculated until all tournament squads are finalized, previous tournaments give a rough indication of what it might be. For the 2018 World Cup, $209 million was shared between 416 clubs for a rate of $8,530 per player per day. For the 2022 World Cup, $209 million was shared between 440 clubs for a daily rate of $10,950 per player per day.

If we use the daily rate from the last tournament for the forthcoming World Cup, then Wrexham would be guaranteed a minimum of $470,850 if both Cacace and Hyam were to exit the tournament in the group stage: $240,900 for the 22 days Cacace would be away, and $229,950 for the 21 days Hyam would be away. If either player were to reach the round of 32, then an additional payment of up to $65,700 per player could be paid.

The most Wrexham could receive from player participation would be $503,700 if Hyam reached the final. That would see the club paid his daily rate from June 4, 2026 (10 days before Scotland’s first match), until July 20, 2026 (the day after the final is played).

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