Male and female footballers for the Wales national team will soon be paid equally in a landmark moment announced by the FAW.
The FAW had previously pledged to reach an equal pay deal between the women's and men's international teams by 2026, and now equal compensation will be paid to both the cohorts in an historic agreement.
Not only will they receive equal pay for representing their country, they will get the same percentage of the prize money distributed by UEFA and FIFA at major finals, reports Wales Online.
The new agreement covers the period up to and including the 2026 men's World Cup and the 2027 women’s World Cup.
Wales’ equality deal arrives as discussions demanding financial parity within the sport have increased in vigour, with Scotland’s female international footballers launching legal action against the Scottish FA in December of last year over equal pay and treatment claims in comparison to their male counterparts.
Wales’ equal pay deal puts them in the same caste as England, United States, Norway, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Canada and Sweden, who have already announced similar equal pay arrangements within their respective FAs.
In 2021, following a comment from Wales’ most-capped international Jess Fishlock that the lack of equal pay structure was “unacceptable”, the FAW pledged to reach an equal pay arrangement by 2026. Wednesday’s announcement arrives three years earlier than the minimum date and represents a major milestone in the FAW’s commitment to revolutionise the organisation in terms of gender parity on and off the pitch.
The FAW said the significant agreement "sends out an important message to the players of the future, in that anyone who represents Cymru in the senior squads are pulling on the same shirt and are representing the same team from an equal footing".
A joint statement from both Wales senior teams said: "Together Stronger has been the mantra across the Cymru national teams for us all, both on and off the pitch as we look to put Wales on the world stage. As part of the FAW’s strive towards equality, we are now proud to announce that together, our men’s and women’s teams have agreed to an equal pay structure for future international matches. We hope that this will allow future generations of boys and girls to see that there is equality across Welsh International football, which is important for society as a whole. With this agreement in place, we will now look ahead to the UEFA EURO 2024 and 2025 qualifying campaigns, as we aim to see further success across both our senior teams in the near future.”
FAW chief executive Noel Mooney said: "The FAW is a modern, progressive movement that seeks to improve each day. This is another step towards becoming one of the world’s great sports organisations and we thank both the men’s and women’s squads for their brilliant co-operation in getting this agreed.”
The FAW are also increasingly focused on driving more money into the women's team this year through landing more lucrative sponsorship deals. Meanwhile, CEO Mooney said the FAW would be placing pressure on UEFA and FIFA to continue to increase prize money in women’s finals, which have historically paled significantly in comparison to men’s.
Last year’s World Cup in Qatar touted a prize pot worth $440million, while this summer’s Women’s World Cup will split a prize pot of just $60million, representing a $380million disparity despite FIFA president Gianni Infantino promising “at least double” the prize pot once more for the 2023 edition following the success of 2019.
The FAW are also determined to see the commercialisation of the women’s team grow pro rata with that of the men’s.
Wales Women return to action in February 2023 when they travel to Spain to compete in the Pinatar Cup to prepare for September's 2025 European qualifiers. The treble of matches will mark the first competitive fixtures for manager Gemma Grainger's side since their agonising defeat to Switzerland in their 2023 Women's World Cup qualifying final in October that ended their sensational run towards a first-ever major tournament appearance.
While an eight-month spectre looms until Wales can embark on another first-ever major tournament campaign, the previous campaign showcased the mounting commotion and appetite surrounding women's football in Wales, particularly at the national level, with the need for equal pay viewed as an appropriate stepping stone in a journey towards an historic major tournament qualification.
The FAW said it will not be providing any further comment at this time.
