It's not about the money, but the prestige. Champions League is plenty prestigious, but the World Cup/Euros/Copa America provide an extra stage, a national one

It's not about the money, but the prestige. Champions League is plenty prestigious, but the World Cup/Euros/Copa America provide an extra stage, a national one at that. Iceland, Croatia, Denmark are recent national teams that went much farther than expected, to much national acclaim ( the whole country celebrating their success). For many players that makes them national heros, and brings them pride and prestige. And there were a lot of players on those teams who were not superstars winning the Champions League regularly.