England women footballers secure central contract increase

By Alistair MagowanBBC Sport

Last updated on .From the section Footballcomments213

England women's team

The England women's football team are set to receive a £4,000 pay increase following successful negotiations with the Football Association.

Players are said to be satisfied with the deal, with their central contracts rising from £16,000 to £20,000 a year.

The new package, set to be confirmed in the next few days, also increases the number of hours players can work in secondary jobs to 24 a week.

A liaison committee and a bonus scheme have been introduced.

The 20 players under central contracts have been represented by the Professional Footballers' Association and were not paid in December while talks took place - though the FA said it always expected a satisfactory resolution.

The union covered the December shortfall and contributed money to the new contracts, which England players earn on top of semi-professional deals with their clubs.

At club level, Women's Super League rules mean teams are only allowed to pay four players £20,000 or more a year.

PFA chief Gordon Taylor called the previous package "embarrassing" and England defender Sophie Bradley told BBC Sport that if players earned more money, they would be able to focus on training without the distractions or stress of work.

She also argued that players should be rewarded for the part they had played in English football's recent success.

If players wish to continue working, the new deal increases the part-time hours they are permitted from 18 to 24 per week.

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213 comments

  • Anybody who thinks men are sexist has obviously never seen Loose Women

  • It's all down to supply and demand, if women's football were more popular it would attract more money. I find women's football awful to watch, I've nothing against women's sport many are great to watch but football isn't one of them, it's like watching the under twelve's

  • I'm torn on this issue, the women's game doesn't generate the revenue for a 25% increase. But without the funding to allow them to be professional footballers the "quality" of the product won't ever increase and a large part of the argument against the pay rise is that the quality of football is low. You get stuck in a cycle.

    Low quality = poor revenue = no investment or new talent = low quality

  • Has their been a 25% increase in gate receipts or something?

    They already have club contracts and likely sponsorship/image rights deals as well. This £20,000 p/a comes on top. Why would they need extra jobs? This is an absolute lie by Gordon Taylor.

    You don't need an extra job if you earn what these greedy women were already earning.

  • Must have a good agent. Country dying on its knees, for a couple of weeks football, £20k. More money than semi pro's whose football is far superior. Equality: Bleat loudly in media, get good PR agent - then get what you want.

  • Why should women footballers be fighting for higher wages when there's absolutely no market for what they're doing in the first place??

  • What a waste of money. Let's all shout sexual discrimination and wait for the pay check. Amateur standards deserve amateur pay.

  • @ 26 Boggy Marsh

    If the women's game becomes popular and the women successful with it then more power to them. I wish people like Francine all the best.

    My only issue is that people (men or women) don't have a right to demand financial support for doing something they love even if they're good at it. Activities like football played for enjoyment and to entertain people need to be self-financing

  • there's no point in disagreeing with b marsh

    just ignores you and makes the same repetitive statement that the women are good when the miniscule crowds prove otherwise

    the english women will not improve or win anything, but b marsh still won't accept that the increase is wasted money!

  • @11 you are all over the place with your logic. Media coverage wont be the same if no one cares. If England men got paid to play for England, there would be 3000 comments within the hour. Also it is irrelevant how much men get, they get a % of the money they generate within football, whereas women are getting "overpaid" relative to what they generate, so its women, not men, who earn too much

  • 110. francine

    Men are perfectly capable of cooking

    ** the worlds best chefs are men.

    and let them have control of their own finances

    ** I agree. stop the subsidies from mens sports and let the women EARN THEIR OWN FINANCES

  • 59

    men earned low wages for about SIX DECADES before the maximum wage was abolished

    the men are paid big money now because of the sponsors and the massive audience mens footy attracts around the globe

    women want to by-pass those FACTS and speed up their claim to higher money despite the fact it's a minority sport

    don't compare womens and mens football COMPARE IT TO OTHER MINORITY SPORTS

  • the women are paid out of revenue from the mens game

    womens football LOSES money and that's before they are paid a penny!

    it seems that ALL the people who have something positive to say about the womens game (and their entire family) on here are the only people who go to games

    I have my suspision that b marsh is in fact IN THE WOMENS ENGLAND TEAM!

    womens footy is rubbish and always will be!

  • 33.Boggy Marsh

    How can the FA justify £20gr x however many, no sponsorship or crowd. America have the largest group of players world wide, especially at the younger age groups, in the States they cant sustain sponsorship to keep a pro league. Nothing against the ladies playing, why subsidised it with money, from people who have little interest. Why don’t more women watch it?

  • Good luck to the girls women's football will never catch on , being hearing it for 15 years ... A freak show at best .... Enjoy the pay rise suspect it will be the last

  • Mighty Mouse, love it, and very true. Women's beach volleyball shamelessly do it, so why not footabll (to a lesser extent obviously).
    Francine, whilst I admire your clear passion, unfortunately the world is not like that. You will only get paid a percentage of the money that companies/clubs can make off of you, and women's football will never be as big as men's football, rugby, cricket...

  • £20k is £20k too much in my opinion for something that very few people are interested in. They had a choice, play or dont play. Mind you its not as bad as equal prize money in the tennis - wimbledon should run 2 separate tournaments and see how much interest there would be in the women only tournament - not a lot is my guess

  • @11

    I'm really sorry, but please don't start with this New Feminism talk.

    I hope we are all now mature enough to agree that men and women are different without being labelled a sexist.

    Men are better at somethings and women at others. Biologically men have more muscles which means that, in general, men will become stronger and faster, and hence is one reason why men's sport will be more popular

  • The relatively low number of comments this will generate is the same reason for the low salaries...

    Sorry ladies there's not a lot of paying interest in the women's game. Harsh maybe but true.

  • Girls are seeing the men as rolemodels, you see this ladette culture creeping into most towns. Seeing them getting drunk, fighting, sleeping around. Now we see girls demanding more ££££ for kicking a ball about, taking a leaf out of the men's book. What's next? Ridiculous haircuts? "roasting" videos? A female mario balotelli?

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