Vietnam women’s football team to get at least $1.5M at World Cup

At the previous Women’s World Cup in France in 2019, the prize pool was $30 million. The champion U.S. received $4 million, while eight teams that exited the tournament from the group stage got $750,000 each.

Now that the prize pool has tripled, the participating teams at the 2023 Women’s World Cup will get an increase of 100-150% in their prize money. Even if Vietnam do not make it past the group stage of this year’s tournament, they are guaranteed to receive $1.5-1.875 million.

Vietnam are joining the Women’s World Cup for the first time. They are in the same group with defending champions U.S.

Besides the prize pool, FIFA has also spent around $42 million for the preparation of the participating teams. This number in the 2019 tournament was $20 million.

The significant surge in the bonus is due to the fact that the 2023 Women’s World Cup increased the number of teams from 24 to 32. In addition, many organizations and individuals have fought to close the bonus gap between the Women’s and the Men’s World Cup.

In the 2022 World Cup, FIFA paid $440 million to 32 participating teams, of which champion Argentina and the runner-up France earned $42 million and $30 million respectively.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino said broadcasters’ offers for the rights to the women’s tournament have been up to 100 fewer than the men’s, while viewership is 20%-50% less than for men’s games.

“Women deserve much, much more than that and we are there to fight for them and with them,” Infantino said.

The FIFA President set a target of balancing the bonus for men and women at World Cups by 2027. However, this is a difficult task when the bonus in the 2022 World Cup is already $440 million, while the number of teams in the 2026 tournament will increase from 32 to 48.