Shamrock Rovers and St Patrick's Athletic are banking on their stars going deep into this summer's World Cup. The two League of Ireland clubs have already banked close to €30,000 in World Cup payments, under FIFA's Club Benefits Programme - thanks to Roberto Lopes' and Joseph Anang's involvement in the finals. An expanded programme has been put in place for the 2026 tournament, which sees any club whose player participated in World Cup qualification get a payment. But for those clubs with players at the finals, the amount of money keeps growing each day that they are at the tournament. The clock started ticking on Monday, 10 days before the tournament opener between co-hosts Mexico and South Africa. The amount per day that clubs are to receive is expected to be slightly higher than the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, when the figure was $10,950-per-player-per-day (€9,458). FIFA have swelled the Club Benefits Programme kitty from $209million (€180million) in 2018 and 2022 to $355million (€307million) for this summer's finals. Much of the additional money will be swallowed up by the inclusion of qualification matches and the widening of the tournament from 32 teams to 48. The scheme has been in operation since the 2010 World Cup and has been a welcome boost for clubs around the world. Shamrock Rovers and St Patrick's Athletic will be hoping to add to their World Cup windfall as the tournament progresses.