Inequality In Soccer: US Women Win WC, Get $2M. German Men Win WC, Get $35M.

The good news is:

• With a 5-2 victory over Japan, the United States became the first team to win the FIFA World Cup three times (1991, 1999 and 2015).
• Midfielder Carli Lloyd scored the quickest goal in a Women’s World Cup final.
• Lloyd became the first player to score three goals in the final of this tournament.
• With her hat trick, Lloyd brought her total for the tournament to six goals and won the Golden Ball.
• The US women team shattered TV ratings record for soccer with World Cup win.

The irony is:

• After Germany won the men’s World Cup in 2014, the team was awarded $35 million. After US won the women’s World Cup in 2015, the team was awarded $2 million.
• FIFA forced women to play this year’s World Cup on artificial turf, which not only increased the risk of injury, but also increased temperatures on the field by 20-30 degrees. No men’s World Cup has ever been played on anything but natural grass.

• The runners-up in Brazil pocketed $25 million, the third-placed team took home $22 million and the fourth-placed team $20 million. The four teams eliminated in the quarter-finals left with $14 million; teams in the last 16 received $9 million; and those eliminated in the first round got $8 million.
• In addition, each of the 32 finalists received $1.5 million as their “preparation costs”.
• $70 million were awarded to the clubs whose players took part in the World Cup.
• The US men have never won the tournament.

In December 2014, Jerome Valcke, FIFA’s secretary general, justified this inequality arguing that since the men’s tournament generates more revenue the men’s World Cup prize money pool is so much larger; and since women’s soccer is newer, the women may have to wait a long time to earn a payout equivalent to their male counterparts.

“We played the [20th] men’s World Cup in 2014, when we are now playing the 7th women’s World Cup. We have still another [13] World Cups before potentially women should receive the same amount as men. The men waited until 2014 to receive as much money as they received,” Valcke said.

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