On March 18th, heavy news came from the soccer world that the prize money for this year's Women's World Cup has surged nearly four times compared to the previous one! China's women's soccer team is expected to reap the rewards of the prize money if they can stand out in this great event.
Meanwhile, on March 16, the 73rd FIFA Congress was held in Kigali, Rwanda, where FIFA President Gianni Infantino announced that the ninth World Cup will have its grand opening on July 16 in Australia and New Zealand. It is reported that the prize money for the 32 teams in this World Cup is as high as 110 million dollars, which is nearly four times that of the Women's World Cup in France four years ago. It is worth mentioning that China's women's soccer team has already received a bonus of 1 million U.S. dollars in the World Cup in France, even though the team finished in the round of 16.
In just four years, the prize money for the Women's World Cup has grown at a remarkable rate. In addition to the total prize money, each of the 30 participating teams receives an additional $1 million in preparation funds, totaling $30 million. In addition, FIFA also provides $11 million in direct compensation to clubs that provide players to the tournament to incentivize more clubs to invest in the development of women's soccer talent.
Although FIFA has not yet announced the specific rules of prize money distribution, it is speculated that the prize money for the winner of this year's World Cup will be more than 10 million U.S. dollars. However, this figure may still not be comparable to last year's Qatar World Cup win Argentina, which won the prize money amount of about 1/10 of the total prize money of FIFA.
At the Congress, President Infantino also said that FIFA will realize the goal of "equal pay for men and women" at the next Women's World Cup in 2027, i.e., the prize money for the Women's World Cup will be the same as that for the Men's World Cup. To this end, FIFA has formulated a "trilogy plan" and announced the amount of prize money for this World Cup at the General Assembly.
