The Football Association of Wales are striving to reach a 60:40 gender balance at board level by 2027 and are "on very good trajectory" to achieve equal pay for the women’s national team, according to chief executive Noel Mooney.
The Wales Women national team came agonisingly close to consummating a history-making World Cup qualifying campaign with a first-ever major tournament appearance, but an extra-time play-off final loss to Switzerland in Zurich earlier this month dealt Gemma Grainger’s side another dose of final-hurdle misery.
Despite the defeat, Mooney said the FAW are resolute in capitalising on the unanticipated momentum garnered by the national team’s recent success to build solid foundations for a sustainable women’s game in Wales, beginning from the top-down.
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“In the elite side of the game, we never legislated against the World Cup,” Mooney told WalesOnline . “That was our free shot. We had plans to make it to Euro 2025, and Gemma brought us there faster, which is fantastic. It accelerates this forward but it takes a time to build in terms of sustainability.”
The 36-year-old acknowledged the stark dearth of women in decision-making positions within the FAW framework, particularly in the higher echelons.
The FAW Council, comprised of 31 members, includes just one woman. Meanwhile, the FAW Executive Board - voted through by the FAW Council in 2018 in order to streamline decision-making processes, improve accountability and better align the association with FIFA, UEFA and other stakeholders - is composed of 11 members with only one woman in Dr. Carol Bell, who serves as one of two independent directors.
Mooney duly accepted the potentially devastating consequences such disparity poses in both developing the women’s game and safeguarding it.
“When we have that diversity and gender parity in our governing bodies, we’ll make better decisions and be more agile, but we have to get the governance right,” Mooney said . “So we are committed to have a board of 40 per cent gender parity by 2027.”
When pressed on why the deadline is not sooner, the Irishman cited due diligence “to be careful not to just fill positions with women” in next year's elections.
“When I joined the FAW management team, it was 90% male,” Mooney said. “Now it’s almost 50%, so we can make changes quickly, but we also need to bring in people who bring in big value.”
The FAW are also in promising dialogue over equal pay for the national teams, pitting Wales amongst a growing cache of countries pledging gender pay parity at the top level, including the Netherlands, Norway, Ireland and the United States of America. In the United Kingdom, only England have committed to equal pay at national level, both in terms of match fees and bonuses. A previous promise for equal appearance fees for Wales players by 2026 was in place last year, but Mooney said the recent campaign has catalysed conversations.
“They’re sharing the same training pitches, they’re wearing the same kits, they’re doing the same work,” he said. “So the whole idea of equal pay is very much an issue and it’s one that we’re working very much with and on a very good trajectory with that.”
Mooney admitted that the specifics of care and support desired by the squads invariably differs due to realities at club level. The CEO points to the lucrative boot deals enjoyed by many in the men's game but not in the women's, an example of the specific considerations made when allocating funding.
Open dialogue occurs between the women’s and men’s leadership teams to discuss how best to pursue “the issue of pure equality across the board”. However, Mooney also recognised "growing pains" within funding distribution across the Welsh footballing pyramid.
“The women’s game is getting so much care and receiving so much care that we’re getting kick-back from other quarters on how much care, so it’s really interesting because we are putting a lot of resources in,” Mooney said.
According to a report from UEFA, the women’s game has received more than 10 per cent of the FAW’s annual turnover over the last 18 months, making the FAW the proportionally highest-spending national association in Europe in the women’s game.
While the turnover (an estimated £30million this year) pales in comparison to larger FAs, Mooney believes the significant percentage dedicated strictly to the women’s game is critical to any sustained development.
Currently, the women's national team receives 60 per cent of the allotted funds (roughly £1.8million), while the remaining 40 percent is apportioned throughout grassroots and the domestic game (roughly £1.2million).
Mooney is confident that resources will continue to be poured in as efforts turn to securing better big-brand sponsors for the women's game who “could be driving forces for the women’s game over the next decade that will take them to the next level”.
Sustaining momentum remains a critical part of the FAW’s plans, particularly with the looming spectre of a 10-month wait for the next competitive international fixture and a need to address a domestic league he described as "not strong enough".
Many grassroots facilities continue to fall short of appropriate standards for the women's game (including supplying feminine hygiene products in girls-designated changing areas). Additionally, many clubs across the country are struggling to sufficiently access training venues and assets to proportionately keep up with the rapid spike in demand for girls and women's football.
Still, Mooney believes the recent campaign represents the latest chapter in an “unstoppable” journey for women's football that will see Cardiff City Stadium “completely full" by the end of the Euro 2025 qualifying campaign, adding that the association is " ahead of target" in reaching its ambitious goal of getting 20,000 women and girls participating in football in Wales.
Mooney said: “We still have to keep fighting every day to make sure there are sufficient resources to make sure that they are the best that they can be, but that’s the same throughout all parts of the game. Grassroots facilities, the professional, women’s and men’s game domestically, there is a constant fight to get resources in, but all I would say is that we have to keep getting the money in. Football is a very just cause, but with this excitement around the women’s game, it’s a home run really.”
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