FIFA’s decision to distribute some of the prize money to individuals rather than national federations means that each player at the Women’s World Cup will receive a minimum of $30,000.
The winning team’s 23 players will each receive $270,000 as part of a $110 million prize pool, which is about 300% more than FIFA offered for the 2019 tournament.
The minimum directed prize money of $30,000 is more than twice as much as the paid players’ average salary, which was $14,000, according to FIFA’s benchmarking report for 2022.
Gianni Infantino, the president of FIFA, promised at the FIFA Congress in March that prize money would be distributed to the players, a first for the women’s tournament, which begins on July 20 in Australia and New Zealand.
For the upcoming Women’s World Cup, member associations would also receive increased funding based on performance, with winners taking $4.29 million home and delegations earning $1.56 million for participating in the group stage.
The total performance-based prize funds still significantly trail what was on offer at the men’s tournament last year, where $440 million total prize fund was awarded.
FIFA has made it clear to national federations that it expects that the amount retained by member associations would be reinvested in their footballing activities, including coaching staff, grassroots projects, youth national teams and women’s football capacity-building programmes.
FIFPRO said the news “represents not only the outcome of tremendous global collective action by 150 national team players, but a constructive negotiation with FIFA over the past months.”
“They have listened to the voice of the players and we have taken steps toward greater gender equity in our game at the highest levels,” the global soccer players union added in a statement.
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