England players such as Lucy Bronze are becoming household names
(Picture: Getty Images)They can hardly have dared to dream that one day they would pull on an England shirt for a major final, but these pictures show the promise of the young Lionesses from an early age.
Now as they face Germany on Sunday, they can look forward to a leap in earnings. Lucrative sponsorship deals are expected for the team’s stars as they increasingly become household names after their run to the final.
The players each receive £2,000 a match from the FA, and should they win the tournament, each will receive a £55,000 bonus. But that pales in comparison to the potential money to be made from sponsorship deals.
Big name players such as defender Lucy Bronze and captain Leah Williamson could cash in along with breakout stars including Alessia Russo.
Kieran Maguire, a football finance lecturer at the University of Liverpool and author of The Price of Football, said there would be huge earning potential. He said: “They will have opportunities for commercial branding from partnerships and with sponsors because the competition has got so many positives coming from it.”
The offers are likely to be inflated by the new-found popularity of women’s football with record attendances at games and the final expected to break the record for TV viewing. Analysts also point to data showing fans are younger with a more equal gender balance which make them more attractive for brands trying to reach new consumers.
However, the earnings of stars in the women’s game are still expected to be dwarfed by those at the top of the men’s game. While the best women’s players earn as much as £200,000 a year from club football, that number is less than a week’s salary for those at the top of the men’s game.
