Even though the U.S. women’s soccer team was eliminated in the round of 16, the male representative’s compensation increased due to increased compensation . It was a shock for the United States, which has won the Women’s World Cup 4 times (9 times) and has never fallen below 3rd place. However, the compensation is the largest ever. How could it be? The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on the 9th that “the women’s national team received more than twice as much compensation as the previous tournament (winning).”메이저사이트
This was thanks to a collective agreement the women’s national team signed with the U.S. Soccer Association last year. The US women’s national team, which won the 2015 Canada Women’s World Cup, received $2 million (about 2.6 billion won) in prize money. The prize money is distributed by the FIFA (International Football Federation) by collecting the broadcasting fees and admission revenue received from broadcasters around the world. Men’s and women’s soccer have different broadcasting fees. The world’s viewer population alone is about 5 billion for the men’s World Cup (2022 Qatar standard) and about 2 billion for the women’s World Cup (2023). That’s why FIFA sets different prize money for men’s and women’s World Cup participating countries. The U.S. men’s soccer team received $8 million (approximately 10.5 billion won) even after finishing 15th in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil the year before.
Then, in 2016, Megan Rapinoe (38), a signboard for American women’s soccer, said, “Equal pay should be given for equal work. It is unreasonable for us to be paid less than the male athletes,” she wrote in a petition to the federal government. When the United States succeeded in winning the second straight title at the 2019 Women’s World Cup in France, they gathered 28 members of the national team and filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Association, saying, “Even though they perform better than the men’s national team each time, the compensation is small.” At first, the association refuted, saying, “What are you talking about, FIFA gives less money in the first place,” but as the turmoil grew, it persuaded the men’s national team players and eventually concluded that the men’s and women’s World Cup prize money should be combined and divided equally, ending the collective agreement. The main point of the message is that the prize money for the World Cup is divided in half after adding the prize money for the men’s and women’s national teams, excluding the association’s share of 10%. The prize money FIFA gave to the U.S. women’s team, which was eliminated in the round of 16 this time, was $2.925 million (about 3.8 billion won), and the prize money the U.S. men’s team received while advancing to the round of 16 at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar was $13 million (17.1 billion won). The women’s national team received 7,312,500 dollars (approximately 9.6 billion won) this time by dividing the remainder (10%) from the combined prize money of 14,635,000 dollars by the association. At the time of winning the World Cup in 2019, it was more than twice the amount of 2.73 million dollars (about 3.5 billion won).
As the US raised its flag, women’s soccer teams in England, South Africa and Canada are making similar demands. Gianni Infantino (53, Switzerland), president of FIFA, promised to equalize male and female prize money in the next World Cup, and the soccer world is paying attention to how prize money will be distributed in the future.