FIFA increases women’s World Cup prize money by 300 percent

The prize money for players at the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand this summer will be increased by more than 300 percent. At stake is $152 million, or 143 million euros. That’s nearly five times as much as in 2019, when the last World Cup was held in France, and 10 times as much as at the 2015 World Cup.

That amount is partly for team preparation and payments to the clubs. But the bulk, 100 million euros, should go to the players themselves, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said today after he was re-elected.

“Women deserve much, much more than that and we are here to fight for them and with them,” he said. Women players around the world have been fighting for equal pay and the same respect that national men’s teams get, including the defending champion United States, Canada, France and Spain.”

Players’ union FIFPRO welcomes the conditions and prize money for the upcoming Women’s Soccer World Cup. “The progress announced today shows the intention of the players and FIFA to proactively work for greater fairness and equality for the industry,” FIFPRO said in an online statement.

But there is still work to be done, the union said. “Prize money is still not equal for men and women,” it said.

FIFPRO said yesterday that it is in negotiations with FIFA about that. Infantino said of that today that he hopes the prize money at the 2027 World Cup will be equal to the men’s.

In October, a group of 150 professional soccer players sent a letter calling on FIFA to pay out the same prize money at the Women’s World Cup as it does for men.

The Argentine soccer federation received 40 million euros after the men won the World Cup in Qatar in late December. The total prize pool for the men was just under 440 million euros. At the last women’s World Cup in 2019, the Americans received about 4 million euros, from a prize pool of 30 million euros.

The Women’s World Cup will be held from July 20 to August 20 this year in Australia and New Zealand.