How a GoFundMe helped fund Jamaica’s trip to the World Cup

For the first time, Jamaica has advanced out of the group stage in the FIFA Women’s World Cup after drawing with and eliminating Brazil, but the Reggae Girlz, as the team is called, faced turmoil before the World Cup even started.

Due to a dispute with its federation, Jamaica turned to crowdfunding and the kindness of strangers to cover the team’s tournament expenses.

Sandra Phillips-Brower, the mother of Jamaican midfielder Havana Solaun, set up a GoFundMe “to cover some of the expenses incurred on this incredible adventure Down Under” for staff and players, according to the GoFundMe. As of Aug. 7, Brower has raised $74,700 of her $100,000 goal.

“If I can somehow make this journey smoother for them — and let them focus on what they’d love to do is play soccer — they shouldn’t be worried about the politics or getting a flight or getting accommodation,” she told The Associated Press. “They should be able to go there and do what we they qualified to do, just play soccer.”

On the fundraiser’s page Brower clarified that the funds she raises do not cover the team’s flights or hotel accommodations, which FIFA covers, but will “help to ease the financial pressure they incur while traveling.”

Some of the funds were used to cover expenses for food, Ubers and checked bags during the team’s pre-World Cup training in Amsterdam in July, according to an update on the GoFundMe. Phillips-Brower also used $8,000 to cover six staff members’ travel expenses for the month of July.

Payments of $500 and $1,333 were made to each of the players on the World Cup roster, according to the same update.

The Reggae Girlz Foundation, a nonprofit organization working “to inspire, educate, mobilize and support the next generation of young female football players in underserved communities,” also launched a fundraising campaign for the team and raised $50,375 of their $75,000 goal as of Aug. 7.

The team has been in a long dispute with the Jamaican Football Federation. Ahead of the World Cup, players posted an open letter on social media, expressing their disappointment with the JFF. The letter says that players have “showed up repeatedly without receiving contractually agreed upon compensation.”

“On multiple occasions, we have sat down with the federation to respectfully address concerns resulting from subpar planning, transportation, accommodations, training conditions, compensation, communication, nutrition, and accessibility to proper resources,” the players wrote, according to ESPN.

With each World Cup match, the players have a chance to apply more pressure to the federation to increase the team’s funding.

Jamaica will face Colombia in its first-ever Round of 16 appearance on Tuesday at 2 a.m. MDT. for a chance to play England in the quarterfinals.