Each Super Falcons player will get as much as $270,000 (N125 million) if they win the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
The least each player in the squad will get is $30,000 (N13 million), that is if they crash out from the group stage.
The windfall comes after the world body FIFA Thursday announced its new financial distribution model ahead of the Women’s World Cup, which begins on 20 July.
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 20 August 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 (N26 million) each to reach the round of 16.
Players who help their sides reach the quarter-finals are entitled to $90,000 (N39 million) 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 (N125 million).
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 (N721 million), while the cash-strapped federation, whose Falcons American coach Randy Waldrum 13 months wages, will get as much as $4,290,000 (N2 billion) should the Falcons go on to win the tournament.
