2023-07-19 07:00:00
On June 8, FIFA announced a real revolution: each player participating in the World Cup was guaranteed to receive at least 30,000 dollars, or even more if her team went further than the pools. A sum paid directly to the players and not handed over to the goodwill of the federations for the first time in the history of the competition, following a very strong request from FIFPro and 150 players who sent an open letter to FIFA asking for “equal terms”. Partially heard requests, thus avoiding that certain unscrupulous fedes fill their pockets on the backs of precarious people. Especially since a study dating from 2022 shows that the average salary of a professional player is 14,000 dollars per year. And we are talking regarding average salary and not median, since some stars of European or American clubs have very high salaries, distorting the calculation. The median incomes in this first World Cup with 32 nations are undoubtedly far from this amount, since only 12 of the countries present in Australia and New Zealand have a professional league.
A sum that will “transform” lives
The announcement of Gianni Infantino and his teams was therefore experienced as a godsend by many players. Especially since according to the latest FIFPro report, 29% of players were not paid by their federations during World Cup qualifying, only 40% of them are professionals and 66% had to leave or take leave. without pay in their other job to participate in the festivities in Oceania. “During the African Cup, with half of this sum, the players were able to build or buy houses, send their brothers and sisters to school, because most of them do not even go to school, says Mike Mubanga, communications manager for the Zambian federation. With this small sum, they were able to transform their lives. So you can imagine what they might do with $30,000, especially since that’s counting without the win bonuses…”
According to the latest FIFPro report, 29% of players were not paid by their federations during World Cup qualifying, only 40% of them are professionals and 66% had to leave or take unpaid leave in their another job to participate in the festivities in Oceania.
Except that if FIFA has indeed insisted that a minimum of 30,000 dollars be allocated to each player by her federation, out of the 1.56 million dollars which are paid to each of the 32 nations, the bonuses decided by the nations themselves come to sow discord. The preparation of South Africa, for example, was largely polluted by a history of bonuses which were not paid by the federation during the qualifiers, pushing the entire group selected for the World Cup to strike. On a lost ground in the suburbs of Johannesburg, a 13-year-old girl from the local championship therefore made her debut in a friendly once morest Botswana that the reigning African champions represented by a bis team lost 5-0. It took the intervention of local billionaire and president of African football Patrice Motsepe to avert a continuation of the fiasco in New Zealand.
Unpaid bills and strike threats in Zambia and Nigeria
The Zambians also had to flex their muscles for arrears to be paid before the World Cup kicked off and threatened not to show up in the friendly once morest Ireland on June 22. A $500 note deposited in each player’s account the same day succeeded in easing tensions, until Hazel Nali came to settle her accounts in an interview for the local media. Zambianfootball.co.zm, revealing that she was not the victim of a crusader injury as announced by her federation, but that it might be a way to keep her away from the group following she spoke out regarding this bounty case. A version that only the player defends, herself having refused to sign the discharge which obliges her to leave the official Zambian group for the World Cup. A way to keep her 30,000 dollars when she was fired from her club and her job to participate in the World Cup?
Photo by Icon sport
The problem of bonuses only spared the Moroccan selection among the four African nations qualified for this World Cup. The Nigerian players are threatening to boycott World Cup matches if their federation does not adhere to an agreement providing for them to receive 30% of the tournament’s receipts paid by FIFA. The NFF says it will no longer pay this originally planned bonus, since FIFA already pays an individual bonus of up to $270,000 per head in the event of a World Cup victory. A strike threat supported by Randy Waldrum himself, coach of the Super Falcons for two and a half years, claiming 14 months of unpaid wages. “In October, each country received $960,000 from FIFA to prepare for the World Cup. Where is this money? “, denounced the coach in a press conference. Indeed, if the players have seen the amount of their FIFA prize money tripled, that’s all prize money global which exploded during this edition. The total representing 152 million dollars, very far from the 40 million of the last edition. And each actor logically wants his share of the cake.
England and Germany in full conflict, Australia wants more
But African nations aren’t the only ones making headlines for bounty stories. In England, the European champions say they are “frustrated” that their federation has not added a bonus to the prize money FIFA. In the past, as this was paid directly to the national associations, it was up to the players to negotiate the percentage they would then receive. Except that the FA would have been satisfied with the money spun directly by the world body, without any desire to give more. Millie Bright announced on Tuesday that the Lionesses were putting on pause their demands the time of the World Cup, but that they intended to return to the charge followingwards. The German side are facing the same problem, having no long-term agreement on the percentages of each prize money of a competition allocated to players. A problem that should arise for a good number of selections in the days to come, as the boss of the Professional Footballers’ Association warns: “Even though the Lionesses’ issues are specific to negotiations with the FA, they join a number of World Cup-qualifying countries ready to take a stand when they feel they are not being heard. »
FIFA will still only offer women a quarter of the reward given to men for the same achievement.
The Australian selection
The French team can boast of having anticipated, by starting discussions early on the famous percentage of the prize money that will be shared between players and staff, before agreeing on the amounts allocated by FIFA, without bonuses, as is customary at 3F. Les Bleues are otherwise used to sharing 30% of the allocation made by the body. A percentage equivalent to that of boys, but which is more a question of fairness than equality. Indeed, the FIFA envelope for the Qatari World Cup was 440 million dollars, three times more than for the girls. The gap is even greater when comparing the sums awarded to the winners. “FIFA will still only offer women a quarter of the reward given to men for the same achievement”, points the finger at the Australian selection in a video posted on its social networks on Monday. Putting pressure on the instance, the Matildas demand that the bonuses be the same for both sexes. In 2015, the Australians had already been talked regarding during a strike to obtain better conditions. “Like on the pitch, we stuck together, we refused to back down and we got the result,” recalls Katrina Gorry. Infantino and the other fed bosses are warned.
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