The FA has confirmed plans to introduce a “significant increase” in prize money awarded to the winners of the Women’s FA Cup from next season.
The winning team for the men’s FA Cup stands at a whopping £1.8m, with the runners-up securing a hefty £900,000 cash prize.
In contrast to the men, the winning women’s team in the FA Cup final will only receive £25,000 and the runners-up are awarded £15,000.
Chelsea Women manager Emma Hayes, who lifted the Women’s FA Cup last season, hit out at the “completely unacceptable” pay discrepancy between men and women.
Aston Villa Women boss Carla Ward also echoed Hayes’ sentiments by claiming that it is “not OK” and it is “really disappointing.”
Labour Party MP Alison McGovern, who represents Wirral South, also slammed the “incredible disparity in prize money” in women’s football during a Parliamentary debate.
The FA revealed it will continue to support the Women’s FA Cup’s development with a cash injection, despite the competition not driving the “commercial revenue to fund prize money growth.”
In a statement released last Friday, the FA said: “The FA has had a clear plan for women’s football that has seen it become one of the biggest successes across sport in our country.
“The growth at all levels has been game-changing and we’re incredibly proud of the progress that we have led.
“To drive this growth, we invested over £50m into our initial ‘Gameplan for Growth’ strategy which doubled female participation, delivered professional and semi-professional women’s football and a successful England team.
“We built on this with even more investment in our ‘Inspiring Positive Change’ strategy that launched last year, with a long-term plan to work with Women’s Super League and Championship clubs to accelerate growth of audiences and revenues. This will help make women’s football in England more commercially viable in the future and allow further re-investment.
“The Women’s FA Cup’s significant development over the last few years is just one example of this growth.
“Whilst the competition doesn’t yet drive commercial revenue to fund prize money growth, the FA board has agreed a significant increase in prize money to support the competition’s continued development.
“More details are to be announced in due course and the additional prize money will come into effect from the 2022-23 season.”
Leading union GMB also recently highlighted the pay disparity between the men and women’s FA Cup, with calls for the FA to “level up” to equal pay in the competition.
Adnan Riaz