The Women's World Cup, which has been taking place between Australia and New Zealand since July 20, is not only breaking attendance records. Bonuses paid to female players have also risen significantly – although the sums remain well below those of their male counterparts.
The budget released by FIFA for players' bonuses increases with each World Cup. After doubling for the 2019 edition in France, it has tripled for 2023, rising to €100 million. That's 17 times more than for the 2007 edition.
General increase in bonuses, but female players paid four times less
The remuneration is distributed among the players according to their team's performance in the tournament:
However, the increase in bonuses for female players should be put into perspective in relation to the prize money paid to male players, which remains four times higher (€402 million in 2022), and continues to grow with each edition. Enough to cast doubt on the realism of the "ultimate aim" set in March by Gianni Infantino, to achieve "equal pay at the men's and women's World Cups." While the FIFA president claims to be proactive on the issue of bonuses, he also points to the responsibility of European broadcasters, who "make offers 20 to 100 times inferior" for the women's World Cup, even though its audiences represent "around 50% to 60% of those of the men's World Cup."
This issue is all the more crucial for female players since the weight of bonuses in their salaries is much greater than for male internationals, who are generally better paid at their clubs. With the average salary of female professional footballers standing at around $14,000 (€12,725) a year, the amounts allocated for the 2023 World Cup will have "a real and significant impact on the lives and careers of these players," said Infantino.
The bonus paid to players on the winning team would thus represent almost twenty times the average annual income. By way of comparison, the finalist bonus of €290,000 paid to each player on the French team after their second-place finish in Qatar in 2022 represented less than 30% of midfielder Youssouf Fofana's annual income. And barely 0.4% of striker Kylian Mbappé's salary, estimated at €72 million.
Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.