The 32 teams that qualified for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia will not just be battling it out for prestige, honour and the chance to win that famous 18 carat gold trophy in the final. They will also be hoping to progress as far as possible in the tournament to land as much of its lucrative prize money as possible.

The financial rewards on offer in the world's biggest sporting event have grown steadily over the years and this summer, they are going to smash records once again. This year, the total World Cup prize money is going to be $791 million, of which $400 million will be distributed to the teams based on their perfor-mances/finishing position. The rest of it will be handed out as part of the preparation, as a benefit to the players' parent clubs and as compensation to clubs that lose players due to injury at the tournament.

The eventual winners will pocket $38 million, an increase of $3 million in comparison to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. This year's runners-up will win $29 million while third place will receive $24 million.

The financial rewards were announced by FIFA towards the end of last year. By the time the 1994 World Cup took place in the United States, total prize money stood at $71 million, a figure that grew to $266 million by the time Germany staged the tournament in 2006.