US women's World Cup winnings: Here’s how much the soccer players will take home
Winning the World Cup comes with more than just one of the highest honors in soccer. It also comes with a payout.
FIFA, the governing body that runs the international competition, pays the winning team $4 million, according to a financial report from the organization. By contrast, that's significantly less than the men's winning team. In 2018, the French men's national team received $38 million for winning the World Cup.
On the U.S. women’s team — which won the World Cup on Sunday for the fourth time — players will receive most of the reward. Each of the 23 members is expected to get about $110,000, according to The Guardian.
However, the team will collect more than just prize money for the final round.
Here’s a look at how much money the U.S. women’s team will take home.
For each qualifying game the team won, players earned $3,000. Since the U.S. team won all five, each player brought home $15,000, along with a $37,500 qualifying bonus for making it into the tournament, according to The Guardian.
Once the final roster was made for the World Cup team, each of the 23 players received another $37,500 for a roster bonus, the outlet reported.
Netherlands' Danielle Van De Donk fights for the ball with United States' Crystal Dunn, right, during the Women's World Cup final soccer match between US and The Netherlands at the Stade de Lyon in Decines, outside Lyon, France, Sunday, July 7, 2019. ((AP Photo/Francisco Seco))
In order to ensure the U.S. women’s team took home the same roster bonus that the U.S. men’s team made, LUNA Bar donated a total of $718,750. That came out to $31,250 per player.
After winning the tournament, the U.S. women’s team will also play in four games for a victory tour. Each player is reportedly expected to receive $60,869 each for that tour.
So after winning the championship on Sunday, the U.S. women’s team is expected to take home approximately $292,119 from all the qualifying games, bonuses, prize money and victory tour earnings.
That doesn’t include any personal sponsorships or marketing and licensing agreements, The New York Times reported.
It’s also possible games could be added to the victory tour. If that happens, each player could get about $15,000 more per game, per The Times.
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In March, the women's team sued the U.S. Soccer Federation in a class-action lawsuit, claiming the organization has engaged in "institutionalized gender discrimination" and violations of the Equal Pay Act.
While the lawsuit cited several instances of alleged pay disparities, U.S. Soccer has rejected the allegations, arguing that any difference in pay is due to separate labor agreements for the men’s and women’s national team. A legal resolution to the complex case is considered months or even years away.
According to a report from June, the U.S. women’s national soccer team’s games outearned the male team from 2016 to 2018.
The women’s team’s games generated $50.8 million in revenue from 2016 to 2018 compared to the male team’s games which made $49.9 million, according to U.S. soccer’s audited financial statements obtained by The Wall Street Journal. The media outlet reported in 2016 — a year after the women’s soccer team took home the World Cup — the team “generated $1.9 million more than the men.”
“The event revenue from the USWNT demonstrates the potential that can be realized when investment is made,” Becca Roux, the executive director of the U.S. women’s national team’s players association, told The Journal. “While there is still a long way to go, I applaud U.S. Soccer, their partners, and our partners for the new marketing initiatives over the past couple of years. I hope it serves as a case study and example for other federations around the world to emulate.”
FOX Business’ Thomas Barrabi and Kathleen Joyce contributed to this report.