For the first time ever, players at the Women’s World Cup will be guaranteed prize money.
FIFA announced a new breakdown of prize allocations for the 2023 World Cup, set for Australia and New Zealand in July and August. This tournament’s method for distributing money will break up the prizes into two pools: one for the association of each national team participating, and one for the players themselves.
“Under this ground-breaking new model, Participating Member Associations (PMAs) will receive record distributions to support football development in their countries, while all participating players will receive guaranteed remuneration for their achievements at the tournament,” said FIFA in a statement announcing the new distribution model.
“The initiative marks another concrete step taken by FIFA to develop women’s football and ensure players receive a fair deal, a commitment FIFA hopes sets a standard across the industry, from broadcasters to governments and beyond.”
For players with the U.S. women’s national team and other favorites like England, Australia, and Germany, professional wages and sponsorship opportunities mean these bonuses are welcome, but may not represent more money than they were already set to make this year.
However, for the majority of players on the majority of teams, even the smallest prize package ($30,000 to each player on a team eliminated in the group stage) will likely be the biggest windfall they’ve ever received from playing soccer. Even for someone making the NWSL minimum salary for 2023, which is $36,400, the smallest World Cup bonus would nearly double their wages for the year.
“FIFPRO is very pleased with the steps taken by FIFA in establishing this guaranteed player payment mechanism,” said David Aganzo, president of international players’ union FIFPRO. “The key behind the success of this model is that it is universally applied, and it is fair, which is what female footballers tell us they want above all else. We see this is as only the beginning of what will be a transformational journey for the women’s professional football landscape together with FIFA.”
Per-player prize money
| Final Position | Prize money |
| Group Stage | $30,000 |
| Round of 16 | $60,000 |
| Quarterfinal | $90,000 |
| Fourth place | $165,000 |
| Third place | $180,000 |
| Second place | $195,000 |
| Champion | $270,000 |
Meanwhile, FIFA has raised the total prize pool given to the associations running the 32 national teams that qualified to a hair over $61 million, more than double the $30 million pool that was carved up between the 24 teams that played in the 2019 World Cup.
While that still leaves a gargantuan gap between what FIFA provides for the women’s World Cup as compared to the men’s (which got a $440 million pool in 2022) it does represent a substantial boost to the women’s game.
Participating Member Association prize money
| Final Position | Prize money |
| Group Stage | $1,560,000 |
| Round of 16 | $1,870,000 |
| Quarterfinal | $2,180,000 |
| Fourth place | $2,455,000 |
| Third place | $2,610,000 |
| Second place | $3,015,000 |
| Champion | $4,290,000 |
