The Women’s World Cup is a week away
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The biggest event in women’s soccer kicks off next Thursday in Australia and New Zealand with three games including Canada vs. Nigeria at 10:30 PM ET. Here’s a catch-up of some recent stories about the tournament:
Finally everyone gets paid.
Last year, 150 players from 25 different countries urged FIFA to equalize the prize money it offers for the women’s World Cup with that of men. They also asked for some of the money to go directly to the players, rather than the national federations to distribute according to their agreements with teams. Those agreements are sometimes not kept or, as in the case of the Canadian women’s team, not what the players feel they deserve.
The women didn’t get everything they wanted, but they won huge profits. FIFA nearly quadrupled its total fund for the Women’s World Cup – which covers prize money, team preparation and payments to player clubs – from $40 million US in 2019 to $152 million. Part of that increase is due to the expansion of the tournament from 24 to 32 teams, and the prize pool for women remains a far cry from the $440 million FIFA handed out last year for the men’s World Cup in Qatar, but that is still always a big change from four teams. years ago.
Perhaps more importantly, FIFA agreed last month to guarantee for the first time that a percentage of the women’s prize money goes directly into the players’ pockets. All 732 of them in the upcoming tournament will receive a minimum of $30,000, with the possibility of earning more based on how far they get past the group stage. Players who make it to the round of 16 will receive $60,000, those who reach the quarterfinals $90,000, semifinalists at least $165,000 and runners-up $195,000. The 23 players of the title-winning team will each receive $270,000.
That’s a lot of money, especially when you consider that some of the players in this tournament aren’t even full-time pros, and FIFA reported last year that the average annual salary in women’s soccer is just $14,000. Read more about the salary increase for the Women’s World Cup here.
What about all those knee injuries?
That’s what many players are asking after a number of big names with torn ACLs were sidelined for the Women’s World Cup. These include Canadian Janine Beckie, rising American star Catarina Macario, Dutch striker Vivianne Miedema and England’s Leah Williamson and Beth Mead.
While ACL tears are fairly common in men’s professional football and the NFL, studies have shown that women are up to eight times more likely than their male counterparts to sustain the injury in sports involving rapid changes of direction. One theory in the medical field is that women’s bodies in general can exert more force on the ACL. But some players want a deeper look into whether the epidemic of ACL tears is due to disadvantages faced by women over men, including medical care and field conditions. Read more about the knee injury problem in women’s football here.
It’s Megan Rapinoe’s last dance.
The American star announced on Saturday that she will retire at the end of the National Women’s Soccer League season this fall, meaning her fourth World Cup will be her last.
Rapinoe, 38, helped the US win the past two World Cups and Olympic gold in 2012. At the 2019 World Cup in France, she won the Golden Ball for the best overall player and the Golden Boot for the top scorer after scoring six goals in the tournament. , including a penalty kick in a 2-0 win over the Netherlands in the final.
Off the field, Rapinoe, who is engaged to women’s basketball icon Sue Bird, is an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ rights and equal pay in women’s soccer. She also gained attention as a fierce critic of Donald Trump during his time as US president. Joe Biden awarded Rapinoe the Presidential Medal of Freedom last year, the highest civilian honor in the country.
This will also be the last World Cup for aging Brazilian star Marta. The six-time World Player of the Year is her country’s all-time top scorer with 117 goals, but has never won the World Cup in five previous appearances. Marta, 37, may be coming off the bench for Brazil after a torn ACL on March 22 resulted in an 11-month absence from the national team.
Canada is turning its focus to the field.
The Olympic champions’ bitter labor dispute with Canada Soccer continues, and the players’ desire to secure a World Cup wage deal with the federation before leaving for Australia was not fulfilled. But it looks like the latter could happen at any moment, as captain Christine Sinclair said this week that an agreement on World Cup compensation “is pretty damn close and I think it will be ready by the time this tournament starts.”
That would come as a relief to a team under pressure to show that their surprise 2021 Olympic gold medal win was no fluke. Despite reaching three consecutive Olympic podiums, the Canadian women have struggled to break through in the World Cup, losing in the quarter-finals as hosts in 2015 and in the round of 16 in France four years ago. But after revealing its World Cup squad on Sunday, the world’s seventh-ranked team is now enjoying the chance to prove itself on the sport’s biggest stage, writes CBC Sports contributor Shireen Ahmed.
