Member Associations responsible for Women’s World Cup pay – FIFA

By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde

The Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) has confirmed that Member Associations (MAs) will be responsible for the disbursement of players monies earmarked for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

FIFA has for the first time started earmarking prize money payments to be paid to the participating players, including those of Nigeria among the beneficiaries.

In a press conference, on the eve of the Women’s World Cup, FIFA president Gianni Infantino said that it will still distribute money to federations rather than oversee direct payments to players.

In June, the world football governing body announced in June that every player competing in the tournament would be paid at least $30,000 by FIFA, stressing that ensuring such payments go directly to players isn’t feasible.

Rather, prize money will still be paid to federations, but now FIFA is asking a portion of that money to go to players.

“We have issued recommendations but we are an association of associations,” Infantino said.

“So whatever payments we do will be through the associations, and then the associations will make the relevant payments to their own players.

“But we are in touch with all the associations, and there are all different situations in different parts of the world — taxation, residence, and so on — which require special agreements that are agreements for some associations with the players from before, of course.

“So, I think we have been taking some groundbreaking decisions and it’s far from the end of the story.”

The issue of payment has caused disagreement between federations and players ahead of this year’s Women’s World Cup. In June, the South African women’s team accused their federation of withholding Women’s World Cup bonus payments.

The Jamaica women’s team launched a fundraising campaign to help them fund preparations for the World Cup amid allegations that the federation was not providing agreed-upon compensation.

The Super Falcons players protested in 2019 over unpaid World Cup bonuses, and again are potentially in fresh row with the federation ahead of this edition over alleged reports of refusal to pay the match bonuses following a pre-departure meeting with the NFF general secretary.

The matter of players’ monies and entitlements is sure to be an ongoing discussion ahead of the World Cup and might linger on after the tournament.