England Women players are 'frustrated' with the Football Association after talks regarding performance-related bonuses are said to have broke down, reports claim.
An article from the Guardian outlines the FA's plans ahead of this summer's FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand and says the Lionesses will not be paid performance-related bonuses.
This decision comes after FIFA announced guaranteed compensation for players last month, with individuals at the tournament set to earn at least $30,000 (£24,000), with players from the winning team each receiving $270,000 (£213,000).
Back in October, over 150 players from 25 different countries write to FIFA President Gianni Infantino calling for greater professionalisation of the Women’s World Cup and fair redistribution of prize money to players. It was previously at the discretion of federations to distribute any prize money to players.
Now, the investment guarantees all players at the Women's World Cup will at least be paid. However, according to the Guardian's report, the FA considers that money to be coming from the same pot they would use to pay players and FIFA has just 'specified' the amount that should go to them.
The article goes on to say the FIFA allocation is only a starting point and not the ceiling for paying players, highlighted by the fact other federations with collective bargaining agreements will pay out performance-related bonuses separate to the money specified by football's main governing body.
Ahead of the 2022 Men's World Cup in Qatar, a report from the Mail suggested the FA 'more than doubled' the size of the players' bonus pot from the 2018 World Cup in Russia. If England were to have gone on to lift the trophy last December, the players would have received £500,000 in win bonuses.
The England squad were also set to gain more bonuses from a successful tournament through their sponsors. However, for the Lionesses, there is said to be a frustration with the commercial strategy as they were unable to make physical appearances for their sponsors after 17 June and can no longer take part in social media promotions from July 5.
