Even if the United States did not win the World Cup, its players would receive most of the prize money

Canada’s women’s soccer team has been demanding for more than a year that the soccer league agree to equal pay and equal working conditions for the men’s and women’s national teams. players from England We are frustrated that their federation will not offer performance-related bonuses. Discuss the Nigerian team boycotting its opening game On the money owed by the players.

The fight for equal pay and equal treatment has turbulent women’s soccer in recent years, and the players of the US Women’s National Team have been at the forefront of that fight. Ahead of this year’s World Cup, football’s leaders have taken steps to address players’ concerns about compensation. But for many gamers, this is the case Still not enough.

FIFA – soccer’s global governing body and organizer of the World Cup – has increased the tournament’s prize money to $110 million, up from just $30 million at the last Women’s World Cup. Most of this increase comes from greater sponsorship and new broadcasting rights for the women’s tournament. However, the overall prize money still lags far behind Prize money in the last World Cup for men In Qatar: $440 million, or four times that amount.

However, female players from around the world worked to secure their share of the compensation. For the first time in World Cup history, FIFA will Allocating funds to players and federations separatelya step taken to ensure that players would see a cut to the overall prize money.

“Every player who makes at least $30,000 is a huge amount, because that money usually goes to the associations and the players don’t see any or much of it,” Alex Morgan, co-captain of the American team, said at a press conference in June.

However, Morgan and her teammates stand apart from most gamers around the world. They will not rely on FIFA to determine their share of the World Cup prize money and will instead follow the terms of their contract with the NFL. In it, the Americans have already received prize money significantly higher than the minimum set by FIFA.

American players’ share of tournament winnings — about $300,000 per player before they hit the field, and going up from there — comes through a new work agreement signed last year. It is unprecedented in the history of soccer that the players on the US women’s and men’s national teams are combined, equally dividing the prize money they received in the finals of the World Cup for each of them.

How the prize money will be shared by most countries

Sarah Gregorius has just finished playing in the 2019 Women’s World Cup with New Zealand when she arrives in the Netherlands to take up a new job: Director of Global Policy for Women’s Football at FIFProPlayers’ International Federation.

“One of the first things that came to my board was compensation, because there was a lot of talk at the last World Cup about equal pay and equal prize money,” said Gregorius. “I knew we had four years to prepare ourselves.”

The World Cup prize money has traditionally been paid in full to the federations, orMember associationsAs FIFA calls it – organizations like the American Football Association and the English Football Association that govern football in each country. The federations, in turn, distributed prize money to the players. For contract holders, the amounts were distributed based on the terms of their agreements.

But nearly two-thirds of the women’s national teams that will appear at this World Cup do not have any contract negotiated collectively, according to FIFPro, which would have left the federations to pay the money however they see fit. The problem Gregorius and others saw with this payment model was that even as FIFA issued increasingly larger amounts of prize money, there was no guarantee that players would receive a larger share, or worse, no pay at all.

In October, FIFPro sent a letter to FIFA on behalf of 150 players from 25 national teams with several demands, one of which was a guaranteed minimum payment for players. On June 8, FIFA announce It agreed that the prize money should be allocated separately between the federations and the players, and that the players would receive at least 30 percent of the total prize money.

However, there are a few federations, including US Soccer, that will operate outside FIFA agreement. Australia will follow both of its terms king Collective bargaining agreement and the FIFA model, where players are awarded any higher percentage of FIFA prize money. In Japan there is a pay model in which the percentage of prize money paid to male and female players is similar.

And starting Thursday, Canada Soccer and its players It seems close to reach their own agreement. “The offer made to our players equals the compensation and level of sponsorship for the players in both programs,” Jason de Vos, Canada Soccer’s interim general secretary, said in a statement.

In addition to wage-sharing with players, FIFPro has also sought to standardize the regulations and conditions for men’s and women’s World Cup players – such as terms of travel, facilities and venues – agreed by FIFA.

There was also a verbal commitment from Gianni Infantino, FIFA President, to balance the prize money for men and women ahead of the next World Cup cycle in 2026 and 2027.

However, doubts remain, especially among players who have historically lacked the support of the federation. Prize money intended for players will continue to be sent to the associations, who will then be responsible for distributing it to the players. Some players have expressed concern about FIFA’s oversight of the process and the lack of a timeline for receiving the funds.

“We ultimately don’t know how we’re going to be paid, or if it should be this year. There are ways it can really be rigged,” said Jamaican forward Chyna Matthews. “It’s nice to see guaranteed player payments but you hold your breath a bit too.”

FIFA confirmed that the funding would be subject to scrutiny, but its spokesperson could not give an exact timetable for when players would be paid.

The US Women’s National Team will not be dependent on FIFA

Each player in the US camp in October signed a FIFPro letter, though the terms of the FIFA deal would have little to do with his own compensation. This is because US players and US Soccer will follow the terms set out in their employment agreement.

After a long and sometimes contentious battle with US Soccer, the women — along with the men — signed new contracts in September formalizing an equal sharing of World Cup trophies.

American football takes a 10 percent deduction from each team, which consists of 23 players; The remainder is then shared between the 46 players in the men’s and women’s national teams who made the World Cup squads. And while some federations have worked to offset compensation for other things such as match fees and travel, no other federation shares World Cup prize money in this way.

“We have in our contract equal prize money for men and women, and it’s a common pot. And we’re the only federation in the world that does that,” Morgan said. “We’re so glad we fought for it and were able to make it happen. Now it is up to FIFA and the other federations to do their part.”

Some countries, including the United States and Denmark, offer additional bonuses for matches in the World Cup – $10,000 for American players who appear in a game, while Denmark pays players amounts ranging from $1,500 to $15,000, depending on the round and whether the team wins or loses.

“No one is going as far as the United States in terms of what they offer players,” Gregorius said, adding that many unions and players’ associations are still in the process of negotiating better wage-sharing terms for players. FIFA just announced about New payment model in June.

She added that the hope was that the FIFA agreement was “treated as a floor rather than a roof”.

The New York Times has contacted every federation appearing at this World Cup to ask about player compensation and how the prize money will be shared. A few of them told The Times they had gone beyond the minimums set out in the FIFA agreement but would not reveal specific numbers or go into detail.

“For reasons of confidentiality, it is not possible to go into detail about the financial information or how the payment plan works,” Gustavo Araya, Secretary General of the Costa Rican Football Federation, said in an email. He added that the Football Association of Costa Rica “more than meets the requirements of FIFA in this area.”

The other possibly surprising winner of this year’s Women’s World Cup could be the players of the US men’s team.

If the American women win the title, each American player will receive an additional $205,000. This means that a US men’s team player will receive more prize money from the Women’s World Cup than a player from any other country.