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Frank De Boer Thinks Calls For Equal Pay In Women's Football Are 'Ridiculous'

Frank De Boer Thinks Calls For Equal Pay In Women's Football Are 'Ridiculous'

Former Dutch defender turned manager doesn't think women's players should be paid the same as men.

Sunni Upal

Sunni Upal

Former Holland defender and ex-Crystal Palace boss Frank De Boer thinks "it's ridiculous" that women footballers should be paid the same as men.

De Boer, 49, thinks popularity and commercial income should be the key factors in deciding player salaries and not gender.

Women's football popularity is on the rise and the World Cup this summer attracted record viewing figures with 28.1 million tuning into BBC's coverage.

But those numbers are still far short of viewing figures that the men's tournament was pulling in in the summer of 2018.

England's defeat by Croatia in Moscow in the 2018 semi-final was watched by 26.5 million people in the UK, while this year's Lionesses loss against USA attracted 11.7 million viewers.

Frank De Boer is against the argument for equal pay between men and women in football
Frank De Boer is against the argument for equal pay between men and women in football

In terms of prize money, the men last year played for a $400m (£330m) pot while the women's cash incentive was $30m (£25m).

Speaking to the Guardian, Atlanta United manager De Boer said: "I think for me, it's ridiculous.

"It's the same like tennis. If there are watching, for the World Cup final, 500 million people or something like that, and 100 million for a women's final, that's a difference. So it's not the same.

"And of course they have to be paid what they deserve to [earn] and not less, just what they really deserve.

"If it's just as popular as the men, they will get it, because the income and the advertising will go into that.

"But it's not like that, so why do they have to earn the same? I think it's ridiculous. I don't understand that."

The US women's national team is suing the US Soccer for gender discrimination.

Megan Rapinoe has spoken up for the USA women's team's cause
Megan Rapinoe has spoken up for the USA women's team's cause

America's female side are far more successful than their male counterparts having won the last two Women's World Cups.

The lawsuit read: "Despite the fact that these female and male players are called upon to perform the same job responsibilities on their teams and participate in international competitions for their single common employer, the USSF, the female players have been consistently paid less money than their male counterparts.

"This is true even though their performance has been superior to that of the male players - with the female players, in contrast to male players, becoming world champions."

World Cup winner Megan Rapinoe, 34, said: "I don't know if there was a tipping point, but the feeling was that this was the next best step for us to put us in the best possible position to continue to fight for what we believe is right and what the law recognizes.

"And to try to achieve equality under the law, equal working conditions, equal working pay. It goes far beyond equal pay into the working conditions as well."

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