England’s Lionesses have finally reached an agreement with the Football Association over World Cup bonuses after players were forced to pause discussions during the tournament.
Sarina Wiegman’s squad had been at loggerheads with the governing body before they travelled to Australia after they had been told they would not receive bonuses on top of FIFA payments.
Each member of the World Cup squad received around £150,000 each for reaching the final after FIFA introduced a new pay structure which saw players directly compensated. Previously, it was up to federations as to whether they would distribute prize money to players.
But the Lionesses were unhappy that the FA were failing to match the United States and Australia – who were giving bonuses to their players on top of FIFA’s payments.
Players are understood to have asked for £100,000 each if they won the tournament.
England’s Lionesses have finally reached an agreement with the Football Association over World Cup bonuses
Sarina Wiegman’s team had been locked in talks with the FA over World Cup bonus payments
Discussions over bonuses were paused before England’s opening game at the World Cup
Discussions were paused before England’s opening game, with players deciding to focus on football, but resumed ahead of this month’s Nations League fixtures with Scotland and the Netherlands.
Players negotiated directly with the FA and an agreement which includes back pay for commercial appearances as well as performance-related bonuses for the World Cup has been reached.
England vice-captain Millie Bright revealed ongoing talks were ‘positive’
Mail Sport understands players believe the next step is to formalise a collective bargaining agreement, which will eliminate the need for such discussions in the future.
‘We have come to an agreement, but I think it is bigger than just the bonus,’ Bright said.
‘We have had a really good conversation with the FA and expressed that we want to be world leaders, both on and off the pitch. We had a really positive conversation and I think that conversation was needed.
‘The conversations will be ongoing moving forward between the leadership team and the FA, with the support of the PFA, and we are really positive that moving forward things will be different. But it was overall very, very good.
‘As we know the women’s game is evolving very quickly and conversations like this need to happen in order to make sure in all areas we are at the top of our game.
‘The conversation was extremely positive and as players we feel really confident moving forward about the structure we now have in place.
‘I think moving forward our aim, as female footballers, is to make sure these conversations don’t have to happen, and we keep moving the game in a place where it kind of takes care of itself.’
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