Australian women's football team strike landmark deal, set to receive equal pay

The Australian women’s national football team, famously known as the ‘Matildas’, are set to earn the same match pay as their male counterparts, the ‘Socceroos’. Football Federation Australia (FFA) and the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) union have agreed to a landmark deal on November 5. The deal which only requires legal ratification is expected to be officially announced by the end of this week. 

The national men’s team have historically been paid more than the women’s and earned a greater share of commercial revenues. This groundbreaking agreement will make Australia the fifth nation to provide equal pay to the national men’s and women’s football teams. Norway was the first country to provide pay parity, followed by the Netherlands and Finland. The New Zealand women’s team, ‘Football Ferns’, also won the right to equal pay in May last year. 

The Matildas and the Socceroos will reportedly share 40 per cent of the commercial revenue and the prize money evenly under the agreement, with the player's total share of revenue in the game also set to rise from 30 percent to 40 percent. Sam Kerr, the Matildas' captain, in a TV interview to an Australian news channel said,

“Obviously, it's a welcome investment into women's football and we're really excited about it. It hasn't been finalised, so hopefully we can get the deal over the edge, but yeah, it's exciting.”

The Matildas are possibly the toughest team in the Asia-Pacific region, and have been strong performers at the international stage. During the World Cup in France earlier this year, they reached the knockout stages and took home $1 million for their performance. Whereas, the men’s team failed to win a single game and still took home $8 million. 

For a long time, the Australian women’s team has been trying to bring about greater pay. In 1999, the team published a nude calendar to raise funds to be able to complete. Former goalkeeper Melissa Hudson resorted to selling most of her memorabilia to raise funds to play in the competition.

The fight for equal pay in sports has been in the spotlight since the US women’s national team filed a lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation alleging pay discrimination and gender bias in March this year. The lawsuit launched by the current World Champions will come to court on May 5, 2020.

(Edited by Athirupa Geetha Manichandar)

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