FIFA have continued to pour funds towards World Cup prize money over the past few decades.
The 2022 World Cup champions will receive a stunning US$42 million for lifting the trophy in Qatar.
That's $4m more than France got in 2018 and five times as much as what was awarded just 20 years ago.
With the tournament earning FIFA billions of dollars in revenue, it's only fair that teams and players get a fair share of it.
But while the men are raking it, women continue to be offered considerably less prize money for their World Cup efforts.
MORE: 2022 World Cup prize money break down
World Cup prize money for men, women
The total prize money pool for the 2022 FIFA World Cup was increased to $440 million for the Qatar tournament.
The next Women's World Cup in 2023 has also seen a healthy increase to its overall prize money but it still pales in comparison to the men's tournament.
FIFA have curently allocated around $60m for the 2023 Women's World Cup creating a $380m disparity between the two tournaments.
This means both women's teams and players receive far less for their achievements on the global stage compared to their male counterparts. It also equals a lot less funding for women's football at international level.
‘If you really care are you letting the gap grow, are you scheduling three finals on the same day? No, you're not’: U.S. co-captain Megan Rapinoe slams FIFA for the disparity in prize money between men’s and women’s World Cups and for scheduling clashes https://t.co/BeWhSWZpnQ pic.twitter.com/l7ZFUxaRWj
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 7, 2019
Why is there a difference in prize money for men and women?
While the gender prize money gap has been closed in other sports likes tennis and golf, FIFA are nowhere near doing the same for their two World Cups.
The game's governing body has stressed that prize money on offer is determined by a tournament's overall revenue with the men's edition currently proving much more profitable.
But as the women's game becomes more popular, there is a chance of this gap closing more in the coming years.
“Today, the men’s World Cup is the one that is funding all the FIFA competitions, including the Women’s World Cup. But we have seen new trends in terms of revenues,” FIFA secretary-general Fatma Samoura said in November.
Speaking to the ABC in July, Samoura added: "Yes, we are still a bit far from men's World Cup prize money, but we should also consider [that] the men's World Cup started almost 100 years ago, in 1930. The Women's World Cup started 61 years later, in 1991.
"We are at the ninth edition and, already, when we see the level of investment — $1 billion put by FIFA over the last cycle — it's just, for me, a matter of time before we reached this inflection-point."
How countries have eliminated FIFA prize gap between men and women
With FIFA still years away from closing the prize money gap between World Cup, some federations have taken the matter into their own hands.
In May 2022, the United States men's and women's teams agreed that they would share the combined prize money they each won at the 2022 and 2023 World Cups respectively.
"This is a truly historic moment. These agreements have changed the game forever here in the United States and have the potential to change the game around the world," US Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone said at the time.
"US Soccer and the USWNT and USMNT players have reset their relationship with these new agreements and are leading us forward to an incredibly exciting new phase of mutual growth and collaboration as we continue our mission to become the preeminent sport in the United States."
Outside of prize money, federations are also instituting equal pay for their men's and women's team with the Republic of Ireland joining the likes of England, Brazil, Australia, Norway and New Zealand in August 2021 by agreeing to such an arrangement.
"The men's squad have agreed to reduce their international fees, with the FAI matching their contribution to ensure that the senior women's team match fee is increased and all male and female players receive the same match fee from the September international window onwards," an FAI statement read at the time.
"The FAI has also agreed equality of approach with the senior men's and senior women's squad with regard to any future Tournament qualification."
