The Women’s World Cup starts on 20 July and over the last few years the event has attracted a lot of attention. This year’s edition will be taking place between Australia and New Zealand with the final in Sydney in August.
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The competition was launched in 1991 after years of complaints that women in football were not recognised. While the Americans are currently the World Champions, we have high hopes for The Lionesses.
Now of course, the Women’s World Cup is not yet on the same level as that of the men but it still promises to be extraordinary. Another thing that differentiates the women’s teams and the men’s are the salaries. We regularly learn about how much top players make, scoring contracts over £100 millions. But this is not the case for women.
Let’s have a look at their salary.
A huge pay gap between men and women in football
The pay gap between men and women’s salaries is nothing new. In every industry women are bound to make significantly less than men. Football is no exception.
Even though, contrary to the male players, The Lionesses won Euro 2022 they are far from getting the same money. In December 2022, The Sun reported that the Lionesses only earned a bonus of £55K for winning the tournament. To regular people, the amount may seem like a lot of money, but when you compare it to what the men would have made had they won, it looks pitiful.
When the men reached the final they earned a bonus of £300K and, had they won, they would have been given £460K. Of course the amounts we are listing are per player not divided among the team.
According to an analysis made by the BBC, women football players earn ‘£47,000 a year.’
The study reveals that men are earning ‘100 times what the women do.’
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How much will The Lionness' earn during this World Cup?
For this year's World Cup, The Lionesses' salary will depend on their performance. Indeed, it is reported that they will make £24K just for reaching the group stages. It will then go up as the rounds happen and culminating at £213K if they win the Cup.
Who is the highest paid Lioness?
While we have established that women players make significantly less money than the men, within the women themselves discrepancies appear.
Indeed, a way for women players to make money is sponsorships and with that comes the competition for popularity. For instance, the team’s captain Leah Williamson reportedly makes £200K a year.
This is a stark difference with other, less known, players. As the BBC’s analysis reveals some players can make approximately £47K a year but second league players could be making even less than that.
The reason why Leah Williamson is making this amount is because she has signed sponsorships with major brands such as Nike and Gucci. The Arsenal player can also count on her 885K followers on Instagram to ensure that her popularity and therefore her paychecks stays up.
However, even though Williamson makes a lot of money, she is still not up to some American players’ level. In March 2023, it was revealed that the top 3 highest-paid women football players were Australia's national treasure Sam Kerr with $513K and American icons Alex Morgan with $450K and Megan Rapinoe with $447K.
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Sources:
BBC News: How much do women footballers get paid?
The Sun: England’s Lionesses’ staggeringly low wages compared to male team revealed including bonuses
Talksport.com: How much money do England women’s stars get paid for playing at the Women’s World Cup? Lionesses will not receive bonuses from FA
The Guardian: England women’s players frustrated with FA after bonus talks break down
AS.com: Who are the highest-paid women’s soccer players in the world?
