GENEVA (AP) — Every player at the Women’s World Cup will be paid at least $30,000 by FIFA, and the 23 players in the title-winning team will each get $270,000.
The details confirmed Wednesday by FIFA fulfills a promise made in March to financially reward the 732 players taking part in the July 20-August 20 tournament hosted by Australia and New Zealand.
It means more than half of FIFA’s total prize money fund of $110 million must be paid to the players in the 32 team squads.
Players from the 16 teams which do not advance from the group stage are still guaranteed to get $30,000 -– more than the annual salary many get from their clubs.
FIFA said it is making “a huge investment in women’s football and, for the first time ever, we are guaranteeing prize money for players.”
The $110 million pool is more than three times the $30 million prize fund FIFA paid out at the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino said at its annual congress in Rwanda that money should go directly to players.
The players’ union FIFPRO had challenged FIFA to secure a “global guarantee” that 30 per cent of the prize money would go to players.
“Players are united behind simple yet concrete demands for greater professionalisation of the FIFA Women’s World Cup,” FIFPRO said in March.
The 16 nations exiting in the group stage will get a total of $2.25 million from FIFA — $690,000 to shares among the players and $1,560,000 for the federation.
FIFA will pay $10.5 million to the title-winning nation. The majority of that, $6.21 million, will be distributed among the players with the remaining $4.29 million going to the federation.
FIFA previously allocated $30.7 million in total to help the 32 teams prepare for the tournament. The players’ clubs will also get daily-rate payments from a $11.5 million fund for releasing them to national-team duty.
It adds up to $152 million in FIFA payments compared to $50 million for the tournament four years ago.
Infantino has set a target of equal prize money for men and women at their next World Cups in 2026 and 2027, respectively. The 32 national federations whose teams played at the men’s 2022 World Cup in Qatar shared $440 million in FIFA prize money.
Infantino has cited getting a better commercial deal for women’s soccer as the reason for publicly pushing broadcasters in key European markets to raise their offers for tournament rights.
Deals in England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain — all with teams in the tournament lineup — are unsigned just six weeks before the opening game.
