Sunday, May 3, 2026

Major Pay Increases Hitting International Women’s Soccer

  • The Women’s FA Cup is doubling its prize money.
  • The Australian women’s national team is seeing a big bump in salaries.
Women’s FA Cup/Twitter

As women’s sports continues its momentum in 2023, international soccer players are seeing significant boosts in prize money and salaries.

In the U.K., this season’s Women’s FA Cup purse total will double to $7.34 million. The club that wins the final match will earn $527,000, in addition to other prize money from throughout the tournament.

It’s yet another major increase in prize money for the competition — last season’s Women’s FA Cup purse jumped from $490,000 to $3.68 million. The FA says its goal is to eventually make prize funds for the Women’s FA Cup equal to the men’s, which will award more than $25 million in total this year.

Boost Down Under

A new collective bargaining agreement between Football Australia and its players will increase individual salaries for women’s national members by as much as around $60,000 each.

Top women’s players made about $70,000 a year under the previous deal but could now be paid up to $128,000 — and that’s on top of any tournament prize money and salaries they receive from their club teams.

The moves follow this summer’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, which paid out $110 million in prize money, a record for the women’s tournament.

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