The World Cup Gender Pay Gap

The quality of the teams competing in the Women's World Cup, which kicked off today, is clear to anyone who has watched elite-level women's football in recent years. The Women's EURO 2022 final between England and Germany was a showpiece example of this. Yet, prize money at the major tournaments has still failed to catch up to that being awarded to the men's teams.

As this infographic illustrates, despite the prize pool increasing from $30 million to $110 million since the last Women's World Cup in 2019, the gender pay gap is still significant in the most recent tournaments. Important to note here, too, is the simultaneous increase in the number of participating teams - from 24 in 2019 to 32 in 2023.

While things are at least moving in the right direction, in the meantime the route for national associations to plug the gap is being paved by the United States. There, thanks to a 'historic' pay deal finalized last year, the U.S. Soccer Federation has pledged to pool all prize money won by the men's and women's team for competitions they both compete in, and share it out equally.