World football governing body FIFA has announced an increase in prize money for the FIFA Women’s World Cup. With the next edition of the tournament scheduled for 2015 in Canada, FIFA have announced that the total prize money on offer for all the featuring teams will be $15 million dollars, up by $5 million from the last edition in 2011 which paid out total prize money of $10 million.
At the 2015 event in Canada, the winners of the coveted crown will receive $2 million up by a million from the $1 million received by current champions, Japan, for their 2011 triumph.
The news interests the African teams set to feature at the World Cup in Canada. Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Nigeria will all feature at the Women’s World Cup after finishing in the top three of the 2014 African Women’s Championships in Namibia. However, each team faces an uphill task in grabbing the $2 million prize money for champions with Ivory Coast drawn alongside two-time champions Germany, one-time champions Norway and Thailand and Cameroon drawn alongside current champions Japan, Switzerland and Ecuador. Nigeria will face two-time champions USA, Australia and Sweden who have finished in the top three on three different occasions.
Incidentally, but for a different turn of events, African teams could have enjoyed home advantage of some sort had Zimbabwe not withdrawn its bid to host the event in 2011. Without the challenge of the Zimbabwean bid, Canada successfully won the hosting rights and has since geared up preparations for the 2015 event with Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montreal and Moncton selected as host cities.
Despite FIFA’s 50 percent increase in the prize money for the Women’s World Cup, many continue to protest the imbalance in sports as studies have shown that 30 percent of sports reward men higher than women. Also comparatively, the total prize money of $15 million on offer for the Women’s World Cup seems a pittance in view of the fact that the 2014 men’s World Cup in Brazil offered a staggering $576 million with eventual champions, Germany, earning $35 million.
The 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup runs from June 6 to July 5 with Africa kicking off her campaign on June 7 when Ivory Coast take on 2003 and 2007 champions, Germany.
