FA faces pressure from MPs to offer equal FA Cup prize money for men and women
Pressure is growing on the Football Association to award equal FA Cup prize money to men and women after a new bill was introduced in the House of Commons.
James MacCleary, the Liberal Democrat MP for Lewes, has proposed the Football (Gender Inequality) Bill which, if passed, would compel a Secretary of State to launch a large-scale review into inequality in men’s and women’s football.
MacCleary has also met with officials at the Premier League and FA to discuss the prospect of equal FA Cup prize money.
“For me equal FA Cup prize money will be a game-changer for women’s football in this country,” MacCleary told The i Paper.
“This is a chance for the FA, Premier League and Premier League clubs to make a huge statement that we’re all behind the women’s game and national team, and a great way of getting money into it.
“I am proud that one of my local clubs, Lewes FC, has led the campaign.”
The Bill represents a significant step in attempts to force English football’s governing body to level the stark disparity in prize money handed to men’s and women’s clubs in their respective competitions.
Currently, the FA gives the men’s FA Cup a total prize pool of £20m – considerably more than the £6m that goes to women’s clubs. The women’s prize pool was doubled in November 2023.
The winner of the men’s FA Cup final receives £2m, whereas the winning women’s team receives less than a quarter of that, earning £430,000. The men’s runner up is paid £1m, the women’s a fraction of that at £108,000.
Other major football competitions are moving towards prize money equality. Fifa president Gianni Infantino said it was Fifa’s “ambition” to offer equal prize money at the men’s and women’s World Cups by 2027.
Lewes FC, who pay their men’s and women’s players equally, have been campaigning for an “#EqualFACup” since 2019, but have been frustrated by slow progress.
A Lewes FC spokesperson said: “Prize money parity represents a transformative and highly impactful shift that will help fertilise the growth of both the men’s and women’s game at every level.
“This change reaches beyond football – it reshapes communities, influences our children’s views on equality, and nurtures the future development of football for all.
“The money is there; it simply needs to be redistributed, and it’s inspiring to see clubs, players, and MPs come together to use football as a vehicle for positive social change.”
An increasing number of clubs visiting Lewes FC’s The Dripping Pan stadium have shown solidarity with the campaign this season.
The Football (Gender Equality) Bill calls for the Secretary of State to compile a report, within six months, proposing measures to “address gender inequality in English football”.
This includes the funding of both games, available training facilities, payment of players and prize money. The review must incorporate the views of stakeholders across the game.
Raising the issue recently, in what is known as an Early Day Motion, MacCleary wrote “the prize fund for the women’s FA Cup remains far lower than that of the men’s competition, despite the impressive growth and increasing popularity of women’s football” and called “on the Football Association to take immediate action to ensure the women’s FA Cup prize money is brought into line with the men’s competition”.
The FA declined to comment.
However, last year when the FA announced the women’s FA Cup prize pool would be doubled, the FA’s director of women’s football, Baroness Sue Campbell, insisted it was a long-term goal to make it level with the men’s competition.
“Doubling the prize money showcases the FA’s clear commitment to the future of the Women’s FA Cup and will help us maintain its stature as the most prestigious domestic women’s cup competition in the world,” she said.
t’s why we’re delighted to be making a second successive increase to the prize fund, ensuring that as clubs progress through the competition they receive financial rewards that will empower them to invest in their own futures. Ultimately, we want the women’s competition to receive the same prize money as the men’s, and this new increase is a positive step in the direction of achieving that long-term ambition.”
In October, sports minister Stephanie Peacock was asked in the Commons if she agreed there should be equal FA Cup prize money.
“The Government are fully committed to supporting and growing women’s sport, and to ensuring that it is on an equal footing with men’s sport,” she said.
“The ambition to have equal prize money across sport, where possible, is absolutely right. I know that the Football Association took steps last season to double the prize fund for the women’s FA cup, and we will pay close attention to see what happens next.”
https://inews.co.uk/sport/football/fa-pressure-mps-equal-fa-cup-prize-money-men-women-3415408
