Women and Men’s teams deserve equal FA Cup prize money, union says

Simon Lloyd

‘There’s plenty of money in the game – so let’s blow the final whistle on this shameful practise’

Women’s teams deserve to receive the same FA Cup prize money as their counterparts in the men’s game, a union has said.

The GMB Union, which represent match hospitality and security staff at several football stadiums across English football, is holding its annual congress in Harrogate this week and has called on the Football Association to bring an end to the ‘shameful’ gender discrimination in footballer pay.

The congress was told that during the whole competition, women’s teams get less than five per cent of the prize money received by men’s teams in the FA Cup.

GMB on gender discrimination in footballer pay

Sides competing in the first round of the women’s competition get less than £1,000 compared to the £22,000 picked up by teams at the same stage of the men’s FA Cup.

“Hard-fought equal pay battles have been won across every sector and it’s long overdue in football,” said Penny Robinson, GMB London Regional President.

“This blatant sexism is outdated and pay parity for our women’s teams is overdue.

“Overall, the total prize money for the women’s FA Cup is £309,000 which is shared by 300 teams.

“This compares with £15.9 million for the men’s FA Cup which is shared by 735 teams.

“The FA should level up the prize money available for women’s teams in the FA Cup to the level paid to the men’s teams in the same competition.

“There’s plenty of money in the game – so let’s blow the final whistle on this shameful practise.”

Equal pay agreement recently announced by US Soccer Federation

GMB’s calls follow the recent landmark settlement reached by the US Soccer Federation with members of the United States women’s team in February.

Players from the US women’s side received $24m (£17.7m) after a long-running legal fight centred on equal pay and working conditions.

This was followed by an announcement from the US Soccer Federation which confirmed it would pay its women’s and men’s national teams equally, including an equal split of World Cup prize money.