◇World Cup = The International Football Federation (FIFA) confirmed the total prize money of 440 million dollars (approximately 573.5 billion won), a 10% increase from the 2018 Russia World Cup in April, seven months before the opening of the Qatar World Cup. According to this, FIFA will give the champion country 42 million dollars (54.7 billion won) and the runner-up country 30 million dollars (39.1 billion won). Third and fourth place also receive 27 million dollars (35.2 billion won) and 25 million dollars (32.6 billion won), respectively. If they advance to the quarterfinals, they will secure 17 million dollars (22.1 billion won) and 16 million dollars (16.9 billion won) in prize money. Even if they are eliminated in the group stage, they will receive 9 million dollars (11.7 billion won).
Separately, the Football Association decided on the standard of reward payment through the board of directors in May. A basic reward of 20 million won was given to the 26 players included in the final list, and 30 million won was added for a win and 10 million won for a draw, depending on the performance. In addition, they promised to pay 100 million won and 200 million won, respectively, to the round of 16 and quarterfinals. The players secured a total of 160 million won in prize money for their Qatar World Cup group stage performance (1 win, 1 draw, 1 loss) and advancing to the round of 16. Chung Mong-gyu, head of the Korea Football Association, also distributed a 2 billion won reward of 76 million won each. The Korea Football Association also paid 5 million won for each player’s family to attend the World Cup in Qatar. If the preliminaries and finals are added together, the players participating in the World Cup in Qatar will receive a minimum of 281 million won and a maximum of 341 million won.
Oh Hyun-kyu (Suwon Samsung), a reserve member for the Qatar World Cup, also received a reward. Oh Hyun-gyu was not included in the final list of 26 people. However, he joined the national soccer team as the 27th player in case Son Heung-min, who suffered an orbital fracture right before the opening, could not play. Oh Hyun-kyu did not get a chance to play in the game due to Son Heung-min’s fighting spirit. However, he was recognized for his contribution to advancing to the round of 16 by training with the national team during the tournament, and received 60 million won, excluding the reward for advancing to the round of 16.
◇WBC = Baseball also has a national competition. The international competitions in which professional players participate are the World Baseball Classic 스포츠토토 (WBC), which is called the ‘Baseball World Cup’, the Summer Olympics, and the Asian Games. A total of 20 countries, including Korea, the United States and Japan, will participate in the 5th WBC, which will be held in March next year. As the number of participating countries is small, the prize money is also different from the World Cup. The size of the reward that the WBC Organizing Committee will pay in March next year has not been finalized. However, the total prize money of the 4 tournaments held in 2017 was 14 million dollars (18.1 billion won). The winning prize is 1 million dollars (1.3 billion won). The WBC Organizing Committee gave him 300,000 dollars (400 million won) per basic participation allowance, and added additional allowances for passing each round. The U.S., which won the last tournament, took a total of 2.7 million dollars (3.3 billion won). It is known that the WBC Organizing Committee set higher prize money and allowances in the 5th tournament than in previous tournaments.
The Korea Baseball Organization (KBO) also prepared a hot reward for the WBC. It was decided to give 1 billion won to the winner and 700 million won to the runner-up. If they advance to the semifinals, they will receive 300 million won. In the WBC, 50% of the prize money received from the organizing committee is paid separately to the players. If the baseball team makes the semifinals or higher, about 500 million won is allocated to the team, including the allowance given by the tournament organizing committee, and the team divides it equally. KBO also prepared rewards for the Summer Olympics, Asian Games, and Premier 12, a national competition. The reward for the Summer Olympics is 1 billion won for a gold medal, 500 million won for a silver medal, and 200 million won for a bronze medal. They decided to give 100 million won even if they reached the finals. However, baseball was excluded from the official event after the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The prize money for winning the Asian Games is 200 million won. Instead, there is no reward for silver and bronze medals in the Asian Games.
In September 2017, KBO newly established national team reward points apart from the reward money so that players selected for the national team can feel more proud. The KBO compensates for the number of FA registration days corresponding to the length of time the players wore the Taegeuk mark from the national team call-up date to the dissolution date according to the results of major international competitions such as the WBC, the Olympics, and the Asian Games. Representative players get 10 points per person just for participating in international competitions. Additional points are awarded for each round passed, and Olympic and WBC can receive up to 60 points (60 days).
◇Olympic & Asian Games = In the sports world, there is a saying ‘The Olympic Theater of Life’. This is because if you win a valuable fruit such as a medal on the stage of the Winter and Summer Olympics, you will be able to grab not only honor but also wealth with a large reward. There are several types of bounty that players receive. The most representative is the government reward. At the request of the Korea Sports Council, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism grants rewards to the Winter and Summer Olympic Games, the Winter and Summer Asian Games, and other international sports events designated by the president of the Sports Council. The Olympic prize money is 63 million won for a gold medal, 35 million won for a silver medal, and 25 million won for a bronze medal. During the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the gold medal reward, which was around 12 million won, has increased more than five times in 20 years. Team medals are awarded only 75% of individual medals.
Apart from the government reward, there is also a performance improvement research pension from the National Sports Promotion Corporation. The Improvement Research Pension is also called the ‘Medalist Pension’ among athletes. This is because it is paid from the month following the end of the international competition that meets the evaluation point standard until death. Pensions are awarded starting from an evaluation score of 20 points or more. The Olympic evaluation points are 90 points for gold medals, 70 points for silver medals, and 40 points for bronze medals. The Paralympic Games are the same. The evaluation points for the World Championships every four years are 45 points for gold medals, 12 points for silver medals, and 7 points for bronze medals. The Asian Games received 10 points for gold medals, 2 points for silver medals, and 1 point for bronze medals. Those with a cumulative evaluation score of 110 or more receive the highest monthly payment of 1 million won. The rest of the points exceeding 110 will be given as a temporary bonus. A temporary incentive of 1.5 million won per 10 points is given for evaluation scores exceeding 110 points, but the amount jumps to 5 million won for 10 points for Olympic gold medals. In addition, if you win two or more gold medals at other Olympics, a 50% bonus is added to the additional medals.