The Football Association is poised to unveil a historic almost tenfold increase in prize money for the Women’s FA Cup.
In January the governing body said there would be “a significant increase” and the Guardian understands that the prize pot, currently about £309,000, will rise to well beyond £2.5m.
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It is not yet known what the distribution model will be. Prize money for the Women’s FA Cup has been in the spotlight in recent years, with the not-for-profit FA criticised over the fact that teams competing in the early rounds have struggled to cover the costs of taking part. The disparity between the women’s and men’s competitions has also been highlighted, with the 735 teams competing in the men’s FA Cup sharing £15.9m, while the £309,000 for the women’s edition – less than 2% of the men’s total – is shared by 300 teams.
For women’s teams who win in the first-round proper £850 is on offer, whereas men’s teams at the same stage collect £22,629. Teams who win their fourth-round ties take away £2,000 compared with £90,000 for men’s teams at the same stage.
The holders of the women’s trophy, Chelsea, picked up £25,000 for their triumph over Arsenal at Wembley in December – 1.4% of the £1.8m handed to the men’s champions, Leicester City.
As a result of the huge disparity, the Women’s Football Fan Collective was launched by frustrated fans from across the pyramid. It has organised the chanting of “No ifs, no buts, we want an equal FA Cup” at all Cup fixtures since the fourth-round games in early February.
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At the end of January the FA said: “Whilst the competition doesn’t yet drive commercial revenue to fund prize money growth, the FA Board has agreed a significant increase in prize money to support the competition’s continued development.”
There have been similar discussions at international level. At the 2019 Women’s World Cup Fifa announced that the prize money for the 2023 edition would double from $30m to $60m. However this was widely criticised because the 2018 men’s World Cup prize fund of $400m is seeing a bigger than $30m increase for Qatar 2022, where the winners will collect $10m more than France’s $40m in 2018, with the runners-up taking $40m and third place $30m.
