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By: Ebenezer Bajela.
Each Super Falcons’ player will get as much as $270,000 (N125m) if they win the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.
The least each player in the squad will get is $30,000 (N13m), that is if they crash out from the group stage.
The windfall comes after world body FIFA Thursday announced its new financial distribution model ahead of the Women’s World Cup, which begins July 20.
In a statement FIFA said “under the ground-breaking new model, Participating Member Associations will receive record distributions to support football development in their countries, while all participating players will receive guaranteed remuneration for their achievements at the tournament.”
FIFA president, Gianni Infantino, said, “Under this unprecedented new distribution model, each individual player at the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 can now fully rely on remuneration for their efforts as they progress through the tournament. The captain that ultimately lifts the iconic FIFA Women’s World Cup Trophy on August 20 in Sydney will receive USD 270,000, as will each of her 22 teammates.”
“The global salary of women’s professional footballers is approximately USD14,000 annually so the amounts allocated under this unprecedented new distribution model will have a real and meaningful impact on the lives and careers of these players. Beyond this, all member associations will also receive a record financial distribution based on their performance, which they can use to reinvest back into football in their countries and which we believe will help to propel the women’s game even further.”
Reacting to the latest financial distribution model, global players’ union FIFPRO praised FIFA ‘for listening to the voice of players’ on the issue of pay, and for ensuring equal conditions in terms of training facilities and transport for players at this summer’s finals compared to the men’s tournament in Qatar late last year.
“The confirmation of equal conditions and guaranteed per-player performance compensation at next month’s World Cup represents not only the outcome of tremendous global collective action by over 150 national team players, under the umbrella of FIFPRO and its member unions, but a constructive negotiation with FIFA over the past months,” FIFPRO said in a statement.
“They have listened to the voice of the players, and we have taken steps towards greater gender equity in our game at its highest levels. The legacy of this action is by the players, for the players, of both today and tomorrow.”
Also, Infantino has set a target for equal prize money at the 2026 men’s and 2027 women’s World Cups but insists broadcasters in particular must do more to make this possible.
Each player at the World Cup will get $30,000 for appearing with their team in the group stage, while they will get $60,000 (N26m) each to reach the round of 16.
Players who help their sides reach the quarter-finals are entitled to $90,000 (N39m) each, while squad members of third and fourth-place teams will get $180,000 and $165,000 respectively.
Players who end the tournament as second-best go home with $195,000, with the winners receiving a whopping $270,000 (N125m).
Also, FIFA member federations are not left out of the largesse.
Following the Falcons qualification for the women’s Mundial, the Nigeria Football Federation will receive $156,000 (N721m), while the cash-strapped federation, who Falcons American coach Randy Waldrum 13 months wages, will get as much as $4,290,000 (N2bn) should the Falcons go on to win the tournament.