The governing body for European football announced on Thursday that it is doubling prize money for the upcoming women’s EURO 2022 football championship – but it remains less than 5% of what men earn.
UEFA said the 16 teams qualified to take part in next year’s tournament in England will share a total of €16 million, double the pot available at the last edition in 2017. The amount each team receives will be based on their performance in the competition.
A club benefits programme will meanwhile be introduced for the first time, making €4.5 million available to clubs that release their players for the competition.
“The increases in financial distributions and introduction of a club benefits programme are key strategic initiatives of UEFA’s Women’s Football Strategy — TimeForAction, ensuring that more money than ever before is distributed across the women’s game,” the body said in a statement.
The 24 men’s teams that participated in this summer’s EURO competition split a cash pot of €371 million. Italy, which took home the trophy, also walked away with €34 million — more than double what the women’s teams will share.
Clubs that released their players for the event received about €200 million.
UEFA also announced new solidarity payments for men’s club competitions to ensure “greater financial solidarity to a wider spectrum of clubs who do not participate in UEFA club competitions for the 2021-2024 cycle”.
This includes increased shares for all non-top fie associations (England, Spain, Germany, Italy, and France) and a reduced gap between associations with and without clubs participating in the UEFA Champions League group stage.
UEFA expects that about €175 million will be made available to non-participating clubs, up from €130 million in the 2018-2021 cycle.
