Players at this summer’s Women’s World Cup have been guaranteed individual prize money for the first time in history.
The agreement is part of a wider £120m fund provided by FIFA for the 32-team tournament, which is up from £40million for the last World Cup in 2019.
Around £88m is part of a performance-based fund, with money allocated to go directly to players.
Players will earn a minimum of £24,000 by competing at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, with the prize money going up the further they get. The winners will take home £216,000 each.
Countries will also see separate prize money for their governing bodies and the minimum they will receive is £1.25m. The winners will get £2.4m. The money is ring-fenced and not affected by broadcast deals.
The prize money is significantly more than other major competitions, with the Women’s Euros pot last summer totalling just under £14m.
The first edition of the Women’s World Cup to feature prize money was China 2007 and FIFA aim to have equal prize money for men and women by 2027.
The decision to guarantee players prize money has been well received. The average salary of paid players (at clubs that provided information for FIFA’s 2022 benchmarking report) is just over £11,000.
Previously there was no requirement by national federations to distribute a minimum amount of World Cup prize money to players.
The trade union FIFPRO, who represent professional footballers and their national unions, have been lobbying for change and in October sent a letter by 150 players from 25 national teams seeking equal conditions, and at least 30 per cent of the World Cup prize money distributed to national federations.
They have praised FIFA for hearing their call and hope for more cooperative dialogue going forward.
“The confirmation of equal conditions and guaranteed per-player performance compensation at next month’s World Cup represents not only the outcome of tremendous global collective action by over 150 national team players, under the umbrella of FIFPRO and its member unions; but a constructive negotiation with FIFA over the past months,” said a FIFPRO statement.
“They have listened to the voice of the players and we have taken steps towards greater gender equity in our game at its highest levels. The legacy of this action is by the players, for the players, of both today and tomorrow.”
