By OkayGoal
FIFA is on course to double the prize fund for next summer’s Women’s World Cup in Brazil, but the increase will leave the women’s tournament well short of the equal pay target Gianni Infantino set three years ago.
According to the Guardian, the pot for the 2027 finals is expected to be roughly a third of the $655m shared by the men’s teams at this summer’s 48 team World Cup. Sky News, which first revealed the decision, reported that FIFA is targeting $220m, double the $110m on offer in Australia and New Zealand in 2023. Nothing has been signed off yet, and a final decision is not expected before the FIFA Council meets in December.
A promise from 2023
Ahead of the last Women’s World Cup, Infantino told broadcasters they had to pay more for the women’s rights and said parity in prize money was the goal. “Our ambition would, of course, to be able to have equality in payments for the 2026 men’s and 2027 Women’s World Cup,” he said at the time, as recalled by Inside World Football. In the same address he insisted that FIFA was “stepping up with actions not just with words”.
With 32 teams heading to Brazil compared with 48 at the men’s event, a women’s fund worth two thirds of the men’s total would have matched it team for team. A figure of around $220m falls a long way below that line, even though the men’s tournament brought FIFA a record $15bn in revenue. Spain alone collected $50m for winning it.
#FIFAWorldCup: ✅
#FIFAWWC: ⏳Bring on Brazil 2027! 🙌
FIFA Women’s World Cup (@FIFAWWC) July 20, 2026
The Guardian reports that some people close to the talks have privately welcomed the rise, while one senior female source called it a “huge missed open goal” for the governing body.
What FIFA has already confirmed
The prize money row follows a set of decisions that are already official. On 22 October the Bureau of the FIFA Council approved a new financial model for the 2027 finals, lifting preparation money to $2.5m for every qualified nation, the same sum the men’s teams received. That money is due to reach federations before December.
FIFA also says that “players participating in the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027™ will enjoy the same service levels as their male counterparts in 2026”. In practice that means business class or chartered flights and a hotel room of their own for every player. The governing body adds that any surplus from the tournament will go to the member associations taking part, with part of that sum reserved for the players themselves.
The first African sides to book their places at the 2027 finals came through WAFCON this summer, and pay disputes have been a recurring theme across the women’s game, as the Matildas’ Asian Cup earnings showed earlier this year.
The commercial argument
FIFA did not comment to the Guardian, but sources at the organisation linked the prize money to the commercial income the Brazil tournament is expected to bring in. The audience is not in doubt. By FIFA’s count, the 2023 tournament was watched by 933 million people on traditional TV and 895 million via streaming, and 67 million tuned in live around the world for England’s final against Spain in Sydney.
Further changes to the women’s club benefits programme and extra money set aside for players are also said to be on the table. Until the Council meets in December, though, the $220m figure remains a reported target rather than a confirmed number, and the equal pay pledge made in 2023 looks set to go unmet in Brazil.
