28 November 2017
Professional women players earn around one per cent of the men's money according to survey findings.
Neymar pockets more in a single season at Paris Saint-Germain than every professional player in the top seven women's football leagues combined.
So says the recently published Global Sports Salaries Survey, which reveals a huge disparity in wages between professional male and female footballers.
England, USA, Sweden, France, Germany, Australia and Mexico pay their 1,693 woman players £32.8m a year combined. That is almost identical to the €36.8m (£32.9m) that Brazilian ace Neymar will earn at PSG, in 2017-18 - for his playing contract alone!
Another example of the gender pay gap can be found much closer to home where the average first-team pay in the (men's) Premier League has risen to £2.64m this season, whilst in the equivalent women's division, the FA Women's Super League (FAWSL), it is £26,752 for this season - about one per cent of the men's money.
Lewes FC has led the way on equal pay and in June this year became the first professional or semi-professional football club to pay its women’s team the same as its men’s team, as part of its Equality FC campaign.
Globally, Norway are a shining light on equal pay with both its men's and women's international teams paid equally. The men's national team have decided to give away 550,000 Norwegian kroner (£50,700) received each year for commercial activities to the women, to help bring parity.
To read the survey findings in full click here.
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