World Cup salaries

It's not just the prestige. There's also a nice payday.

From USA Today.

The opening of the 2006 World Cup in Germany is five weeks away, but already the U.S. players selected to play in the June 9-July 9 competition will cash in.

Under terms of a deal brokered last year between the U.S. Soccer Federation and the U.S. National Soccer Team Players' Association that runs through 2010:

• Each player named receives $37,500.
• Each player earns $3,750 for each game the U.S. team plays.
• The team will earn $150,000 for each point in the standings in the three first-round games (three points for a win, one for a tie) it accumulates, with a $2.775 million bonus awaiting should it progress to the knockout phase. That bonus alone works out to approximately $120,652 for each player.
• The team receives additional bonuses for advancing to the quarterfinals ($2.25 million), semifinals ($2.625 million) and the final ($3 million). Winning the World Cup would earn an additional $3.75 million; finishing third is worth $500,000.
  
  

The 2002 team that advanced to the quarterfinals paid out $200,543 a player.