England Women in dispute again with FA over bonuses | OneFootball

England Women are facing another impasse with the Football Association over bonuses, with the squad yet to agree to the terms they have been offered for their European Championship defence this summer.

A dispute over bonuses interrupted the Lionesses’ preparations for the World Cup two years ago, with the FA initially refusing to offer performance-related payments after Fifa introduced individual player fees. That led to negotiations being paused on the eve of the tournament after concerns they were proving a distraction.

The FA agreed to pay bonuses, although the matter was only resolved the month after they returned from the tournament. England reached the final in Australia, where they were beaten 1-0 by Spain.

Negotiations are continuing, with the talks being led on the players’ side by senior figures including Leah Williamson – the captain – and the Chelsea pair of Lucy Bronze and Millie Bright, with support from the Professional Footballers’ Association.

Although the FA has accepted the principle of bonus payments and made an initial offer, the players are understood to be disappointed, with sources claiming it is lower than those offered to other leading international sides. Spain’s players received a bonus of about £250,000 each for winning the World Cup and have already agreed a potentially lucrative package for the European Championship.

The Lionesses are understood to be seeking an increase on the £55,000 bonus per player they received for winning Euro 2022 on home soil, not least as Uefa has more than doubled the prize money made available to the 16 competing nations to £34m.

The federation of the tournament winners in Switzerland will receive £4.3m from Uefa, which has stipulated that at least 30% of the prize money is passed on to the players. Beyond that, however, the level of bonus payments to be paid is discretionary.

The Guardian revealed the original bonus dispute two years ago, which led to the players releasing an unprecedented collective statement signed by all 25 members of the squad a week before their opening World Cup game against Haiti, in which they expressed “disappointment” at an issue they described as “key for the growth of women’s football in England”. While relations are better than at that stage and there is hope on both sides the matter will be resolved amicably, the players are understood to be disappointed it has taken this long.

An source with knowledge of the talks said: “There are bound to be some difficulties as it’s a commercial negotiation. And that is increased in this instance, as there is a tension between the players’ push for greater equality and commercial realities. The players understandably want equality, but is that fair? There is the will on both sides to reach an agreement, but it’s a matter of time.”

The FA equalised match fees five years ago, with male and female England players receiving about £2,000 a game, but bonus payments remain far apart due to the differing levels of prize money on offer in men’s and women’s tournaments. Gareth Southgate’s squad would have shared a bonus pot of about £14m had they won last summer’s European Championship final against Spain, about 10 times the amount Sarina Wiegman’s players collected for winning Euro 2022.

England have a Nations League double header against Belgium at the start of next month, with two more games against Spain and Portugal at the end of the season, before opening their European Championship defence with a difficult game against France on 5 July. Wiegman is eager for the bonus issue to be resolved long before the players meet up for their pre-tournament training camp in the middle of May.

The FA declined to comment.

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