The FIFA President, Gianni Infantino has made it clear the Federation could make no guarantee that it'll distribute the $30,000 payments promised to every player at the 2023 Women’s World Cup. This was revealed at a news conference ahead of the event opener. The President stated that he’s engaging with member of the confederations on the issue. The payments are made to the national confederations, which are expected to pay the players. “We're moving of course in the right direction, we've been consulting with associates, with players, to try to go in the right path” Infantino said, “We've issued these recommendations, but we've an association of associations. So whatever payments we do, we will go through the associations and also the associations will, of course, make the applicable payments to their own players. We're in touch with all the associations.” FIFA had preliminarily verified that the 732 players partaking in the Women's World Cup would be paid at least $30,000 each. The stipend rises if teams do well, with each player for the winning team set to earn $270,000. Infantino said there are complications including habitation and taxation that are best handled by confederations. The payment is significant for numerous players. The average annual payment worldwide for women who play professionally is $14,000. FIFA’s agreement means that half of the total World Cup prize money fund of $110 million will be paid to the players in the 32 teams. The prize money is more than three times the $30 million prize fund FIFA paid out at the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France. The players’ union, known as FIFPRO, pushed FIFA to dedicate a significant percentage of the prize money to the players themselves. The union transferred a letter to FIFA in October on behalf of players from 25 national teams calling for further indifferent conditions and prize money. Still, the prize money is far below the $440 million paid to the men’s teams who played in the World Cup last December in Qatar. Infantino said the dream is to equate the prize money by the 2026 men’s World Cup and the 2027 women’s edition. The President further added that the Women’s World Cup is anticipated to induce a half- billion dollars in profit and the organization will break even. For the first time, the marketable rights for the Women’s World Cup were sold independently from the men’s tournament. The tournament opens Thursday with both co-hosts involved. New Zealand will play Norway in Auckland, and Australia will take on Ireland in Sydney.
0 comments
Leave a comment
You need to login to leave a comment. Log-in