Women’s World Cup will embolden footballers to fight for the pay they deserve – despite FIFA’s actions
Everything you will see at the Women’s World Cup the players had to fight for.
To be allowed to play football. To be able to compete at a FIFA event. And to be paid to be able to dedicate themselves to the sport.
The next month in Australia and New Zealand will undoubtedly be the biggest stage yet for the women’s game with an expanded 32-team festival of football.
And England will be feeling the pressure. As European champions, Sarina Wiegman’s side should be challenging for a first World Cup – despite injuries to key players.
The commitment of the co-hosts promoting the tournament should provide the buzz lacking across much of France in 2019 when England finished fourth under Phil Neville.
And globally the increased profile of players and their teams – and improved media coverage – should generate unprecedented interest.
Little wonder FIFA President Gianni Infantino declared this week in Auckland that “you’ll hear from me only positive things” until after the final.
Gianni Infantino
That does chime in part with the message from the England camp about putting their internal dispute over team bonuses on hold until after the tournament.
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But as veteran defender Lucy Bronze said of their collective activism: “It’s a very empowered player group.”
And across women’s football – empowerment is the watchword.
Why are players being guaranteed minimum pay from FIFA for the first time? Because of pressure exerted on Mr Infantino by players and their global union, FIFPRO.
“It just shows what happens when players come together united behind very clear principles for change for themselves, but also a legacy for players to come,” said Sarah Gregorius, a former New Zealand player now leading FIFPRO on women’s football.
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Sky’s Nicole Johnston explains everything you need to know.
The stadium in Lyon boomed to chants of “equal pay” four years ago as the Americans lifted the World Cup.
That is yet to be achieved. Far from it.
England collected $17m (£13m) for the men reaching the quarter-finals at the Qatar World Cup last year, while champions Argentina banked $42m (£32.5m).
The country that collects the Women’s World Cup in Sydney on 20 August will only bank $4.3m (£3.3m).
FIFA has effectively blamed rights-holder broadcasters for maintaining disparities by not paying enough to show the games.
But this is a governing body with $4bn (£3.1bn) in cash reserves.
That makes it harder to justify a prize pool of $440m (£340m) for the 32 men’s teams in Qatar and $209m (£161.7m) for the clubs of players when that total is only $152m (£117.6m) for the Women’s World Cup.
FIFA will point to the rise from $30m (£23.2m) from the France 2019 prize fund – but eight more finalists have also been added.
England players during a training session at Spencer Park, Brisbane, Australia
And then there is the guaranteed squad pay now – from $30,000 (£23,200) for players who exit in the group stage to $270,000 (£208,800) for each of the champions.
It is a significant commitment – secured by FIFPRO – given that FIFA’s last published research showed the average global salary for female professional players is only $14,000 (£10,800) and many countries still lack professional women’s leagues.
But the cash will still go to the national football associations rather than the players directly – another barrier that might have to be overcome.
And the players are still feeling marginalised by FIFA beyond pay.
Captains, including England captain Millie Bright, have been banned – just like the men in Qatar – from being allowed to wear “One Love” multicoloured armbands featuring a heart.
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Lioness stars Beth Mead and Leah Williamson are out of the England women’s football team with ACL injuries, but they’re not alone.
They would have obliquely referenced LGBT+ rights at a tournament with so many out gay players, including Australia captain Sam Kerr, who said: “Obviously, we would have liked to have worn it, but I’m not going to put this team at risk.”
While there is an armband very similar to the One Love armband among the approved options, FIFA made a point of telling the media that the colours should not be considered a rainbow or representing LGBT+ pride.
Perhaps FIFA was unwilling to cave in again having dropped Visit Saudi as a tournament sponsor under pressure from Australia and New Zealand, as well as the players, over the kingdom’s anti-gay laws.
That lobbying made clear the players won’t be silenced on a platform they were denied for so long.
While the men’s World Cup started in 1930, FIFA only sanctioned a women’s world championship in 1991 and then allowed the World Cup brand to be used later.
And while Mr Infantino wants a purely positive focus for the next month, so many players are determined the World Cup spotlight won’t just be used to showcase their skills.
There are battles for equality still to be won with FIFA and in their home countries. Playing at the World Cup will only embolden them to fight for the parity deserved – and earned.
Counter-terrorism police are investigating after an incident involving a crossbow and a firearm left two women injured in Leeds.
Police were called to Otley Road at 2.47pm on Saturday to reports of a “serious incident involving a man seen with weapons”, West Yorkshire Police said.
Officers arrived at the scene to find two women injured – and a 38-year-old man with a self-inflicted injury. All three were taken to hospital, with the man held under arrest, but their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening.
“Two weapons have been recovered from the scene, which were a crossbow and a firearm,” Counter Terrorism Policing North East said in a statement.
The incident happened on the ‘Otley Run’ pub crawl, with one venue saying it was closed for the evening due to “unforeseen circumstances”.
Officers guard one of the crime scenes
Officers inside the cordon in Leeds
Counter Terrorism Policing’s statement added: “Due to the circumstances surrounding the incident, Counter Terrorism Policing North East have taken responsibility for leading the investigation with the support of West Yorkshire Police.
“Extensive enquiries continue to establish the full circumstances and explore any potential motivation.”
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper described it as a “serious violent incident” and said she was being kept updated by police.
“Thank you to the police and emergency services for their swift response,” she said. “My thoughts are with the victims and all those affected by this attack.”
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Wrexham AFC have been promoted for the third season in a row.
The North Wales-based side has gone from the National League to the Championship in just three seasons, under its Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.
Wrexham were second in the table and had a run of eight games unbeaten ahead of their match against Charlton Athletic on Saturday, which they won 3-0.
Wrexham’s James McClean lifts the League One trophy. Pic: PA
Wrexham’s Dan Scarr celebrates with the fans on the pitch after Wrexham won promotion to the Championship. Pic: PA
It is the first time any club has been promoted for three consecutive seasons within the top five tiers of English football.
The third oldest association football club in the world, Wrexham AFC was bought by Reynolds and McElhenney in 2020, and has since been the subject of a Disney+ documentary, Welcome To Wrexham.
Reynolds, wearing a Wrexham sweatshirt, and McElhenney were pictured celebrating each goal, and after the game, as the fans came onto the pitch at the SToK Cae Ras (Racecourse Ground) to celebrate the victory with the players.
Wrexham co-owners Rob McElhenney (L) and Ryan Reynolds and Ryan’s wife Blake Lively, before the match. Pic: PA
Both stars came onto the pitch after the supporters returned to the stands.
Speaking to Sky Sports, McElhenney praised those behind the scenes, referring to “so many that don’t get the credit they deserve, people who aren’t talked about”.
Reynolds said bringing success back to the club “seemed like an impossible dream” when they arrived in North Wales in 2020.
Wrexham’s Sam Smith celebrates in front of the fans after Wrexham won promotion to the Championship. Pic: PA
He put the three promotions down to “the coaching staff, the greatest dressing room” and an “all for one, one for all” attitude throughout the club, adding he was “speechless with their commitment and their emotion”.
As for the mouth-watering prospect of another promotion to the promised land of the Premier League, the pair agreed it was “for tomorrow”, before ending the interview with a joint mic-drop.
Veteran striker Steven Fletcher said, “as soon as I came to this club, I knew it was something special. We want to go again. We’ll reset in the summer, take a break and go again”.
“It has been a success.”
Just Stop Oil (JSO) insists it’s been “successful” – as its members ceremoniously hang up their orange high-vis vests during a march in central London.
Since the group formed three years ago, it’s drawn attention and criticism for its colourful, controversial protests, which ranged from disrupting sporting events to throwing soup on Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers, and climbing on gantries over the M25. It sprayed orange paint over Stonehenge, and cost police forces tens of millions of pounds.
Those days are now behind it; to the relief of many.
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As a few hundred activists marched through London on Saturday, blocking roads as they went; taxi drivers blared their horns and football fans shouted abuse from the pavement.
The PA News Agency filmed the moment a white minivan seemed to drive towards a group of protesters blocking the road.
Protesters shouted “I’m being pushed back!” to police, while the driver could be heard shouting “What about my right to get home?” to the officers gathered.
But JSO never set out to be popular. And it believes its tactics – though hated – have been successful; thanks to the new Labour government’s commitment to not issue new oil or gas exploration licences.
That’s why, it says, its ceasing direct action.
JSO hangs up its high-vis jackets in central London on Saturday
A washing line of high-vis jackets signifies JSO’s disbanding
“This moment marks the success of the JSO campaign – our demand was to end new oil and gas licences and that is now government policy.
“As a result of which four billion barrels of oil are being kept under the North Sea. The campaign has reached a natural end.”
Dr Oscar Berglund, senior lecturer in international public and social policy, disagrees that JSO is disappearing because it’s been “successful”.
He told Sky News policing strength and public perception might have more to do with it.
“They have very low levels of popularity. About 17% of the British population are kind of broadly supportive of what Just Stop Oil do. And that’s too low to recruit.
“It’s difficult to recruit members to something that is that unpopular, and then that a lot of people for good reason I think have kind of stopped believing in that kind of disruption as a means to achieve meaningful change.”
Group triggers specific new protest laws
One thing it did change is the law.
Policing commentator Graham Wettone tells us: “Obstruction of the highway, obstruction of rail networks for example, these are specific offences now.
“It’s given the police more tactics, more methods, more offences they can consider, even stopping and searching somebody who may have something to either lock themselves on or glue themselves to something.”
A JSO activist holds a picture of an imprisoned colleague
Emma Smart was held in prison for her activism with both Insulate Britain and Just Stop Oil.
“The high-vis might be going away,” she tells me, “but we aren’t.”
“These people aren’t going anywhere, we are still committed, dedicated, terrified by the failings of this government and governments around the world.”
JSO activists throw orange paint at van Gogh’s sunflowers
Orange smoke set off by JSO protesters at Stonehenge
She hopes for a time of reflection before it returns in a new form but says the need for climate activism is stronger than ever.
She also believes that while most people dislike JSO tactics, it still raises awareness of the cause and might even push people to more moderate campaign groups.
Just Stop Oil came behind other, similarly controversial climate campaign groups like Insulate Britain and Extinction Rebellion, and as it says goodbye, its disruptive methods have been seized upon by other organisations like the Pro-Palestinian Youth Justice.
The infamous Just Stop Oil orange vests might be going away, but the individual activists, their cause and campaign tactics feel here to stay.
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