For the first time in history, FIFA will directly pay the soccer players part of their income from participating in the World Cup. Specifically, each player who participates in the group stage of the tournament that starts on July 20 in Australia and New Zealand will enter $30,000 (about 28,000 euros). In the past World Cup in France in 2019, the average amount that each footballer received was about 14,000 euros. This year they will receive more than double, an amount that for many soccer players will mean more than what they earn in a whole year at their clubs.
FIFA thus fulfills its promise to allocate part of the economic prizes directly to the pockets of the 732 soccer players who will participate in the World Cup. Another part will go to the coffers of the participating Federations, but with the promise that it will be reinvested in women's football in each country.
For qualifying for the round of 16, the 16 teams will receive 2.25 million dollars: 690,000 to distribute among the players and 1,560,000 for each Federation. In the case of the winner, FIFA will pay 10.5 million, going to stop 6.21 to the soccer players and 4.29 to the winning nation. The 23 members of the champion team will pocket a total of 270,000 dollars (just over 250,000 euros).
"They have listened to the voice of the players and we have taken steps towards greater gender equality in our sport at its highest levels. The legacy of this action is from the players, for the players, both today and tomorrow," she said. the footballers' union FIFPRO after hearing the news.
Last October, FIFPRO sent a letter to the UEFA president, Gianni Infantino, signed by 150 players from 25 national teams in which they demanded equal conditions with men's football and the distribution of at least thirty percent of the money between the national federations.
The objective of the president of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, is to equalize the economic prizes between men and women in the next World Cups in 2026 and 2027. Currently, the distance is still abysmal. While the prize money in this year's Women's World Cup has skyrocketed by 300% compared to the last edition, reaching 110 million dollars, in the last men's World Cup in Qatar, FIFA allocated 440 million in prize money.
