Women’s World Cup Players Earning Far Less From FIFA Than Their Male Counterparts
ALL IN A DAY’S WORK: For soccer fans, all eyes are on the field during the Women’s World Cup in France. But new research indicates that the pay gap between women’s elite players and their male counterparts could use some attention.
FIFA will pay $8.48 million to 198 women’s soccer league clubs that have players competing in the Women’s World Cup 2019. That payment is for the group stage, which ends June 20. The financial support is part of the “participation of clubs in the benefits of the FIFA Women’s World Cup,” according to a new study by the information platform Wettbasis. That breaks down to $453 per player per day with the player’s current club receives 50 percent of that sum and the clubs that trained each player up to the age of 22 getting 50 percent. The payments started May 24 and will continue until one day after the last match day, or in this case the last match of the group stage.
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The women’s soccer clubs receive 5.5 percent of what FIFA awards to men’s clubs, according to the new study. At last year’s Men’s World Cup, FIFA paid approximately $8,530 per player, per day – more than 18 times the amount paid to the female soccer clubs. Real Madrid, Manchester City, and Chelsea FC each received more than $3 million for their players to compete in the men’s World Cup 2018. That figure was just shy of the $3.25 million paid by FIFA to all the women’s clubs combined during the group stage, which ends today.
The 26 National Women’s Soccer League clubs taking part receive $443,000 in total — the highest amount compared to any other country. The French and the Spanish leagues trail the U.S. league, receiving $303,000 each, followed by the English Premier League with $300,000. Sweden and Germany ranked fifth and sixth, with $195,000 and $187,000 respectively.
Three American clubs ranked among the top 20 in terms of pay received from FIFA — the 10th-placed Portland Thoms FC that took in $55,258, the 12th-ranked Orlando Pride that received $48,900 and the 18th-listed North Carolina Courage with $43,900. But the 26 National Women’s Soccer League clubs taking part receive $443,000 in total, more than any other country.
As a FIFA partner, Adidas is amping up marketing to soccer fans, as is Nike. As of Thursday morning, the U.S. plater Alex Morgan and South Africa’s Sam Kerr led the individual scoring with five goals each. In the U.S., fans can find official licensed WWC products at Walmart, Ross stores, Marshalls, TJ Maxx, Groupon, Zulily, Target, Dick’s Sport, Kohl’s and Soccer Fanatic, as well as via the online FIFA shop at Amazon. A $30 hoodie, a $26 T-shirt and a $20 soccer ball are among the options. Super fans can learn more about the history of women in the sport thanks to the FIFA World Football Museum. “The Women’s Game” is on view at the Jardin Nelson Mandela in Les Halles, Paris until 7.
Those, who want to hear more about equality and inclusion, can catch two-time Olympic gold medalist Abby Wambach speaking at the Pennsylvania Conference for Women’s Workplace Summit on Oct. 1 in Philadelphia.
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