Women's Football News

Even tough women’s football has been growing tremendously in the past 10 years, the women’s salaries are not remotely close to the men’s. Prize money however is raising just like the wages in the European competitions. The coming years a lot of growth is expected and hopefully this will have effect on the wages of the players. Let’s have a look

How much do women football players earn in Europe?

Salaries of football players are not made public by the clubs but we found enough information to give you an estimate. According to several media reports Leah Williamson has a salary of roughly $250,000 and Sam Kerr earns somewhere around $500.000 a year. These are exceptions in the women’s football world.

On average players earn about $60,000 a year in Europe, but some earn as little as $20,000 a year. They often have another job besides football. Compared to the men’s salaries this is nothing. To give you an idea; the best paid WSL player earns less in a year than Kevin de Bruyne in a week.

How much do women football players earn in the United States?

Last year the players and NWSL agreed to the first ever collective bargaining agreement. The minimum salary is now $35,000 a year, which is a 60% increase. On average reports state that players earn about $57,000 and the maximum is $75,000. Because of this cap on the salary many players decided to move to European clubs. The salary cap for the men works different. It is possible to sign certain players outside the salary cap, but only a few every season. Still the maximum for the men lies around $612,500 a year for regular players.

How much do women football players earn by playing for their country?

Match fees are being discussed in almost every country with a women’s national team. Some are choosing to offer the women the same fees as the men.  England, Australia, Norway and the USA all have made the fees equal for the teams.

This doesn’t mean everything is equal in those countries. The terms that come with the bonusses and fees make it uneven. Take the Lionesses for example. They won the Euros in 2022 and earned 1.3 million in bonusses. If the men’s team would have won the Euros they would have gotten 6.3 million.

Prize money Women’s football vs. Men’s football

The World Cup 2023 had $110 million in prize money for the teams. If we compare this with the Men’s tournament in Qatar you are in for a shock. The World Cup 2022 had $440 million in prize money. The $110 is definitely more than it used to be so you could say we are making progress. By 2027 the FIFA wishes to award equal prize money during the World Cups. Gianni Infantino has said many things on this subject so we will have to see if he keeps his word.