Editorial | Women soccer players have earned their due
- The recent World Cup in France has proved that women deserve higher pay, judging by entertainment value and audience numbers
What most sets women’s professional soccer apart from men’s, gender excepted, is money.
The fabulous sums earned by top male players at the English and European club level may reflect television audiences, match crowds and star worship that have created a stratospheric transfer market.
But at international level, the inequality of pay and corporate support arguably does not reflect the ability and entertainment value of the best women players, or generate the funding needed to develop the women’s game.
The gap could be about to narrow a bit as a result of the ratings triumph of the recent Fifa Women’s World Cup in France.
The television audience for the entire tournament approached 1 billion across all platforms, including up to 150 million for the final between the United States and the Netherlands.
The US v England semi-final drew 11.7 million viewers in Britain, dwarfing the average of 6.9 million who watched the FA Cup over the past three seasons. With the Olympics and European championships next year, the women’s game has reached a tipping point in terms of payments.
