woman wondering how much do women's footballers earn

How Much Do Women Footballers Earn and Get Paid?

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Women’s football is clearly on the rise in the UK and around the world. This was highlighted by the huge interest in the Lionesses recent Euro 2022 final victory. This win has got many people wondering just how much do women footballers earn? And how does this compare to the salaries earned in the men’s game? 

While each England player for the women’s team received a reported £55,000 bonus for winning Euro 2022 (on top of their £2000 per match fee), how much do these players earn for playing in the WSL for example?

How Much Do Women Footballers Earn?

The first point to note here is that there is a HUGE difference between the wages earned in women’s football compared to men’s, but then you likely already knew this. 

The captain of the England women’s football team Leah Williamson, for example, is reported to have earned around £200,000 last season. Not bad you might initially think. But when we compare this to the £200,000 a week earned by captain of the men’s team Harry Kane, the pay gap becomes very evident! And Harry Kane earns around half of that earned by Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo. Cristiano is reportedly earning £400,000 a week.

But these players are some of the best in their league. So what are the average salaries for women footballers? While weekly wages going into six-figures are common in the Men’s game, this is not true for female footballers. 

The average annual salary in the Women’s Super League is understood to be around £47,000 per year. But some players are paid as little as £20,000. Of course, there are exceptions for the top stars. Some of these in the WSL are said to be earning £300,000+. When you consider that the likes of Lionel Messi earns £62 million a year – and this is before we’ve factored sponsorship earnings – it’s clear that the pay gap is one that will not be easily bridged.

The hope is that the success of the tournament will help push the wages of England’s top players up. Hopefully to levels seen in other leagues around the world. Some of the women players at teams like Lyon or in the US national Women’s team earn closer to £500,000 per year.

Will Women’s Football Start Earning More?

When looking at how much women footballers earn then, there’s obviously room for improvement. So will England’s Euro 2022 win lead to women footballers earnings going up? 

A lot of this will depend on whether the huge TV audiences and interest generated by the tournament can be sustained or not. If earnings are to go up then this money will need to come from more (and higher value) ticket sales, merchandise sales and perhaps most importantly, bigger TV deals! We all remember what happened to the the men’s game when BSkyB got involved and the Premier League was created!

As we can see then, while some women footballers earn six figure salaries, at present many don’t earn anywhere near that amount. Could women’s football be on the cusp of a change like that seen for the Premier League in the early 90’s? Let’s see… only time will tell.

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