A level playing field?

A comparison of the salaries of the England men’s and women’s football teams. Know more about UK’s Women Football Players Salary, Pay at Paywizard.co.uk

England International Karen Carney 

Say the names Gerrard, Lampard and Rooney and instantly everyone knows who you’re talking about, England and Premiership footballers. Say the names Yankey, Carney and Smith and prepare to be met with blank stares. 

They are in fact also England footballers, women footballers, and whilst the likes of Michael Owen and Rio Ferdinand can put their feet and enjoy a summer off, they are on the brink of succeeding where their male counterparts failed and qualifying for the European Championships in 2009. 

But whilst the men’s team enjoy salaries averaging around £60,000 a week, a female England footballer will count herself extremely lucky to earn that in a year. 

Whereas the men’s game is professional, women’s football is only semi-professional, meaning that most players juggle full time jobs with playing club football and representing their country. Several of the England players are employed by their clubs in other capacities, such as youth and community coaches.

During the 2007 World Cup many players were forced to take unpaid leave from their jobs, their reward?  The footballers were paid just £40 a day by the FA for the five weeks they spent in China where they reached the quarter finals. Compare this with the men’s team who are rumoured to have received six figure bonuses for failing to even qualify for Euro 2008!

Hopefully a similar situation will be averted if they do reach the European Championships. The Professional Footballers' Association have recently opened their doors to female members, the first being members of the England team who now have associate status of the footballers union. This means they will now have the backing and support of the PFA in any negotiations with the FA. Speaking about last years World Cup, PFA Assistant Chief Executive Bobby Barnes said "AS PFA members in circumstances like those, we would expect to make representations to their employers, in this case the FA".

Investment in women’s football has never been higher claim the FA, with £4.5m being ploughed into the game in 2007. Sounds a lot, but when you consider that John Terry alone pockets around £6.5million a year.... 

 

 

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