We explain how the prize money system should work at France 2023

Every four years, the topic of Rugby World Cup prize money pops up. And as we head into France 2023, it will be a big discussion again.

And as it stands, the full picture isn’t clear yet, but should be as we get closer to the big kick-off. What we do know is that each team participating in the Rugby world Cup in France will receive the same flat fee for competing in the pool stages. That fee will rise for the sides who reach the knockout stages of the tournament and so on.

There will also be participation fees for match officials at the Rugby World Cup.

This post will be updated with more details on Rugby World Cup prize money as we get closer to the event.

Was there prize money at World Cup 2019?

It was reported in 2019 that the prize money for the Rugby World Cup in 2019 was around £325,000. However, it was also reported in The Telegraph that the Rugby Football Union (RFU) was also staking an internal bonus pot of £7 million, should England go on to win the World Cup final.

It was “the largest financial ­incentive of any team in Rugby World Cup history”, reports said. In the end, South Africa won the 2019 World Cup final 32-12.

In their mid-2020 Annual General Meeting (AGM), the Springboks confirmed that they had paid out from a performance bonus pot of R62m (around £2.7m) to their players and staff, for the World Cup win in Yokohama.

The 2023 Rugby World Cup kicks off in Paris, with France versus New Zealand on Friday 8 September. The final will be held on Saturday 28 October.

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