From victory to victory, the football players impose themselves and show the best of themselves. Despite great fame, their salary is far from aligning with that of male colleagues … Some countries are still moving towards pay parity.
Lately, the joy of the Lyon team, which triumphed against Wolfsburg (3-1) was contagious. A beautiful game that personalities and anonymous have emphasized. But behind the compliments hides a wage gap. Nothing new, the players do not have the same contracts as the men.
According to a study by the Observatory of Inequalities in 2017, women received 96% less than men.
The growing polularity of women's football does not evolve in the same way as their income. In 2019, LCI announced that Ada Hegerberg was the best paid player in D1, with 400,000 euros gross per year at OL, about 100 times less than Neymar, highest paid player in Ligue 1 with 36 million euros annual gross to PSG. By a simplified calculation, with 3,069,520 euros gross monthly, therefore approximately 100,000 euros per day, it only takes four days for the Brazilian to exceed the annual salary of the super player.
Other footballers like Amandine Henry, Wendie Renard touch respectively: 360,000 euros and 348,000 euros gross per year. Solène Durand (Guingamp) was, for her part, the player of the French team the least well paid with 1,700 euros gross per month.
You should know that salaries may vary from one club to another. On the one hand, you have the best paid, those who are in big clubs with big advertising contracts. These can affect several tens of thousands of euros per month. And on the other, you have in France, the average monthly salary of a footballer which is 2494 euros gross, tells LCI the French Football Federation (FFF). Far from the 108,422 euros gross monthly affected on average in Ligue 1, according to The team.
There is also a disparity between the big clubs. Lyon, PSG, Montpellier, or even Paris FC pay their players on average in the 4,000 euros gross per month, while the other teams, align themselves with rates between 1,500 and 3,000 euros gross monthly.
In 2020, the highest paid footballer is the British Lucy Bronze, who joined Olympique Lyonnais in 2017 after two years at Manchester City, with 200,000 euros gross annually.
While in the United States, Megan Rapinoe campaigns for, "at least ", equal pay between men and women, Eugénie Le Sommer (OL) qualifies the debate. "In France, we are only at the beginning of the development of our sport. Before we talk about equal pay, let's start by making our championship completely professional. Then wages will naturally increase. We must remain lucid, talking about equal pay for men and women is premature. Men's football has decades behind it and its economic system is huge compared to ours.", she explains to Figaro.
Towards parity in the rest of the world?
Many countries are beginning to change the ancestral codes concerning wage differences. On Wednesday, the president of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), Rogério Caboclo, made a historic announcement at a press conference. His decision is to award "the same amount for premiums and daily allowances for men and women"in selection, reports the France-Presse agency.
"Thus, the players will win as much as the players, there is no longer any gender difference, the CBF treats men and women equally. (…) Next year, they will earn the same bonuses as the men at the Olympics. And at the next World Cup (in 2023), the bonuses will be the same, in proportion to what is awarded by Fifa ", he added.
For the Swedish Pia Sundhage, Brazil coach since July 2019, this news is a real victory: "I hope everyone manages to see the smile in my eyes (Editor's note: highlighting his mask at a press conference). It's historic. It's very special to be able to be a part of all of this. We are going to work hard, I am lucky."
Regarding the rest of the world, the Australian Football Federation announced equal pay between men and women in November 2019. But a big disappointment for the American world champions who lost in the legal field last March . A magistrate rejected their request for equal pay.
During the last World Cup, in 2019, Marta's team broke a Brazilian television audience record for a women's match, with more than 35 million viewers.