Melbourne women’s football players attempt to double their salary in just three games | OneFootball

A group of Matildas and their Melbourne club teammates are chasing the “carrot” of doubling their salaries over three games in coming months as the first Women’s Asian Champions League and its multimillion-dollar bounty lands in Australia.

Melbourne City take on Taiwan’s Taichung Blue Whale on Sunday 23 March at AAMI Park in a single-leg quarterfinal of the first women’s edition the intercontinental tournament. The side features emerging Matildas Holly McNamara, Karly Roestbakken, Laura Hughes and Leah Davidson.

The Asian Football Confederation has provided millions of dollars in prize money to help clubs meet the costs of playing in the competition and provide an incentive for the players, including as much as $50,000 for each individual who lifts the trophy in the final in May.

City captain Rebekah Stott, a veteran of a century of international appearances for New Zealand, said the money on offer if the side went all the way was huge. “We want to play good football, but it’s like a carrot dangling in front of you, it’s really cool, it’s really good for women’s football,” she said.

Low pay has been found by Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) as the main reason players consider leaving football early, and the average salary in the A-League Women is around $30,000.

The PFA chief executive, Beau Busch, said increasing prize money in Asia serves as an important revenue stream to help improve opportunities in the Australian game.

“The average elite women’s salary at the moment is under $30,000, so that’s a significant increase for those players, and will allow them to invest more time into the sport,” he said. “But also importantly for clubs like Melbourne City, it allows them to continue to attract and retain talent,” he said.

Every team in October’s group stage received around $160,000, split between the club and the players. Rewards escalate at subsequent stages of the competition before the eventual winners take home a little more than $2m.

Melbourne City chief executive, Brad Rowse, said the prize money was “transformational” given participation in Asian competitions in the past – in both men’s and women’s – had come at a cost. “The main thing is to have our players have the opportunity to go and compete in those sorts of tournaments,” he said.

McNamara, 22, who has returned from an ACL injury this season to make her Matildas debut, said financial prizes weren’t her motivation. “If I cared about the money, I wouldn’t be playing football,” she said. “Whatever prize money you can get or whatever money you can earn is nice, but for me it’s just about playing football.”

Stott said she had been playing at the elite level for 12 years and she appreciated this level of financial reward. “Fifty grand would help no matter how much we earn, I think it’s going to be great but like Holly said, we do play for the love of the sport – that’s why we’re all here – it’s just a cherry on top.”

Broadcast regulations imposed by Asian football’s governing body mean the match has to be held away from City’s regular home at Casey Fields in Melbourne’s east, and the club is hoping to attract a strong crowd for the Sunday afternoon game at a venue that due to its scale and cost of operations has become unviable for regular season A-League Women matches.

Rowse said given the “unprecedented” nature of the fixture he wasn’t sure what kind of crowd could be expected, but McNamara hoped fans would come to mark the “special” occasion. The semi-finals and final are likely to be held overseas in May, leaving this match as possibly the only chance for local fans to see this season’s competition live.

City qualified for the tournament as last season’s premiers. They are currently unbeaten and sit on top of the A-League Women ladder.

Australian clubs have competed in men’s Asian continental competitions since 2007. Prize money for the men’s competitions exceeds $20m.

Header image: [Photograph: Chris Coduto/Getty Images]