England’s big-hearted World Cup stars give their match fees to good causes

Every England player will hand over their £2,000 fee for each game they play at the 2026 World Cup in North America to the England Footballers Foundation

The Three Lions are playing for pride at the World Cup – after agreeing to donate their match fees to charity. Every England player will hand over their £2,000 fee for each game they play at the tournament hosted in North America for good causes.

They hand over their money to the England Footballers Foundation – aka EFF – which distributes it to charities.

Since the donations were introduced the Lions have raised more than £5m for charities such as cancer research, UNICEF and Help for Heroes. A host of England football legends brought in the charity scheme in 2007.

A spokesman said: “The Players’ Committee – consisting of Gary Neville, David Beckham, Rio Ferdinand, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, John Terry and Jamie Carragher – established the EFF.

“It is the vehicle through which England players donate their match fees, and also their time, to support good causes.”

The Football Association has not responded to a request for comment.

But a source close to the team said: “It’s not something they like to talk about but it perhaps goes against the image of top level footballers. Much of the good work they do in society stays under the radar whereas if they have problems it’s all over social media.”

Any earnings the players do get from the World Cup will be entirely performance related based on how well the team does.

The Football Association has reportedly structured a significant bonus pool, with players potentially earning up to £500,000 each if England win the World Cup.

Manager Thomas Tuchel is understood to earn around £5m-a-year with bonuses depending on tournament success.