According to news outlets here the FFA have agreed a deal that will see both the mens and womens national teams earn an equal split of revenue including prize money, supposedly a world first. Basically 40% of all revenue earned will be split equally between the mens team and the womens. To give you an example the Women earned $1 million for reaching the knockout stages of the word cup whereas the men pocketed $8 million for failing to win a game.
But the difference being that most mens teams are very profitable, whearas, the current women's national world champions (USA) cost their football association money. Not saying I'm against equal pay
I think it's a good thing as Womens football is on the rise around the world. The average womens W League player in Aus earns 16k a year (about 9000 pounds). These girls try juggling professional sports with a job and if anything the additional money will enable a lot more of them become full time, once that happens the standard will only get better, when that happens the sponsorship will increase. Personally i think it's a good thing.
Agree, good luck to them and if they become more successful over the coming years, hopefully the English women ask for a similar deal
Absolutely. I guess that if none of the other top countries do the same we'll see girls who qualify for Australia wanting to play for them as the financial rewards will be greater.
I earn €15,000 a year playing football. I don't get paid more because I have reached a level where the clubs income can not support that of my EPL counterparts due to it not attracting a demand. There isn't a demand for women's football, yes its increasing but like i said, most teams are running at a loss (same reason Short got shot of the women's football club). I can't see how paying the WNT more money will improve the viewership/sponsorship especially as its just the national team and not the entire league system. I get that they're taking a more moral approach to things than just profit based. But paying 24 out of a few thousand participants more money won't do squat. Imagine, if the time come where the womens game starts to become more popular and overtakes the men's pay. Would people be arguing equal pay. Would they feeerk. I'd be more in favour if they took a cuts of the mens to promote grass roots womens football clubs as well as a higher average wage that could be subsidised. If a higher wage improves the women's sport, by that logic decreasing the men's wage has a negative impact. Highlighted in bold, this statement would only be true if they were paying the entire league system more. They're just paying the national team more.
