Why Matildas won’t follow USA with equal prizemoney split

The Australian players’ union has praised a new pay deal announced by the American federation that will see all prizemoney shared equally between its men’s and women’s teams – but suggested it wouldn’t pursue a similar deal with Football Australia, claiming it would not solve the root cause of pay inequality.

US Soccer on Thursday announced a landmark deal under which all prizemoney will be pooled and split 50-50 between its mens and women’s national teams. The prizemoney on offer at the mens World Cup is almost six times greater than at the women’s tournament.

The deal is the first of its kind and comes after years of public pressure from key players and an acrimonious dispute between US Soccer and its world champion women’s team.

It also follows the historic equal revenue-sharing agreement signed between FA and the players’ union, Professional Footballers Australia, in 2019 that ensured an even split of all national team windfall, except prizemoney, between male and female national team players.

Under the terms of that agreement, the Socceroos and Matildas now share 26 percent of the combined national team revenue, while the women’s players were also guaranteed the same working conditions and professional standards as their male counterparts.

However, the PFA will not pursue an even split of all prizemoney as part of its collective agreement with FA, saying it doesn’t believe the male players should sacrifice their earnings to make up for FIFA’s unequal allocation of prizemoney.

Megan Rapinoe (right) lead the charge for equal pay in USA.Credit:Getty Images

World football’s governing body will award a total of $630 million in prizemoney for the 2022 men’s World Cup, compared to just $86m for the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

Male teams receive $14m for reaching the World Cup finals, while female national teams receive $1.1m for qualifying. The winner of the mens World Cup receives over $57m, compared to just under $6m for the women’s champion. The PFA says it does not wish to achieve equal pay by making the Socceroos subsidise the Matildas and instead is lobbying for FIFA to set equal prizemoney.

“The US Women’s National Team players’ leadership on the issue of gender equality has been inspiring and remarkable,” PFA co-chief executive Kate Gill said.

“FIFA continues to be the source of clear gender discrimination in relation to pay, with the Women’s World Cup prizemoney representing less than 14 percent of what is awarded at the men’s World Cup. In perpetuating this cycle, FIFA clearly fails to meet its human rights obligations and players are left to solve problems that are not of their making.”

In a submission to the Australian Human Rights Commission Women’s World Cup Risk assessment in 2021, Australian players called for FIFA “to address the inequity in prizemoney awarded for the women’s World Cup as compared to the men’s World Cup,” which the players cited among their top concerns.

“The report identified the lack of parity in prizemoney as a clear failure to respect the human rights of players and recommends that FIFA address this,” Gill said.

“Ahead of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, FIFA was obliged to undertake a comprehensive Human Rights Risk Assessment. If it is not addressed, Australia risks co-hosting a tournament that celebrates women, but fails to treat the best players on the planet as equals.”

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