World Aquatics Introduces Athlete Post-Career Compensation Fund; Specific Qualification Requirements Announced
The international governing body for swimming has announced a new initiative to support aquatic athletes at the conclusion of their career. World Aquatics President Husain Al Musallam revealed the Post-Career Compensation Fund and the initial investment of $10 million during the organization’s congress at last year’s World Championships.
According to the World Aquatics release, the fund is intended to “support athletes financially upon retirement from elite competition, adding to World Aquatics’ current advisory services helping athletes plan for life after sport.” Swimmers and elite participants in other aquatic sports become eligible for the fund “based on consistent participation and performance at World Aquatics competitions.”
“We know that athletes face real challenges once their careers come to an end – it’s a major change in their lives and often in their income too,” Al Musallam said last year, per the announcement from World Aquatics. “We have spoken with many athletes who have helped us better understand that their real financial difficulties begin once they retire. Our aim is to ease that transition wherever we can, and financial support is one of the most important routes through which we can help.”
Specific to swimming, athletes much participate in the majority of World Aquatics-organized competitions over a four-year period. The eligible competitions include the World Aquatics Championships held every two years (usually odd years), the World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m) held the other two years in December and the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup held every year. To become eligible, athletes “must accumulate 80% of the maximum available participation points over any four consecutive calendar year period.” Participation at any World Championships earns one point, and each World Cup stop yields 0.5 point. For World Championships, swimmers will only earn points if they race in an individual events, not only relays.
Almost all elite swimmers participate at each long course edition of the World Championships, provided they qualify, but many skip the Short Course World Championships and World Cup. Thus, this new program will disproportionally benefit swimmers who regularly attend the events held between October and December. Conversely, swimmers may choose to attend Short Course Worlds and/or World Cup events to earn credit toward the fund.
Most years give swimmers an opportunity to earn 2.5 points, one from the global meet plus 1.5 from the three World Cup stops. That means no one can qualify for the program unless they regularly attend World Cup meets, which many athletes routinely skip. In recent years, these meets have taken place over a two-week period in one portion of the world, with the 2025 series held in the United States and Canada while the 2026 meets will take place along the “Silk Road” in Baku, Azerbaijan (Oct. 1-3); Tashkent, Uzbekistan (Oct. 8-10) and Astana, Kazakhstan (Oct. 15-17). The World Cup meets usually feature short course meters competition, with a shift to long course in the year prior to the Olympic Games.
Once swimmers become eligible for the fund, World Aquatics will add a portion of a swimmer’s “qualified earnings,” the prize money they earn at these competitions, into the fund. Bonuses for world records or annual honors will not be considered qualified earnings. Swimmers can withdraw their lump sum from the Post-Career Compensation Fund one calendar year after their formal notification of retirement. World Aquatics will match 10% of a swimmer’s qualified earnings during the initial four-year qualifying period, plus 5% of qualified earnings from year five and beyond.
The program is beginning with a retroactive start date of January 1, 2025, so no one will be able to take money until January 1, 2030 at the earliest. Swimmers would be eligible on that date if they earn eight or more points in the 2025-28 quadrennium and then immediately retire following the 2028 Short Course World Championships.
For open water swimming, the process works in a similar manner, with points earned from attending the World Championships every two years plus stops of the Open Water Swimming World Cup contested annually. As with the swimming fund, those who only participate in open water relays will not earn credit toward qualification.
Separate qualifying procedures have been posted for diving, high diving, water polo and artistic swimming, with all following the similar criteria involving World Aquatics-hosted events. Divers only earn points toward eligibility for competing in events on the 3-meter springboard or 10-meter platform, either individual or single-gender synchronized events. Contests on 1-meter plus mixed synchro and team events do not count.
Anyone who has retired and taken money from the Post-Career Compensation Fund but chooses to return to competition would begin a separate fund with a new four-year initial qualification period.
More information on eligibility criteria for each sport is available here. Prize money opportunities and details for 2026 can be found here.