The Football Ferns have a chance at a massive payday. Photo / Michael Craig
The Football Ferns have a chance at a massive payday. Photo / Michael Craig
The Football Ferns will be set for a bumper pay day if they can reach the knockout stages of the World Cup.
The New Zealand side face Switzerland in Dunedin on Sunday (7pm), needing a win to guarantee passage to the round of 16, though a draw may also beenough, depending on the result in the other Group A match between Norway and the Philippines in Auckland.
Qualification would be historic – the Ferns have never got past the pool stages in five previous attempts – and also bring big financial rewards.
Ahead of this tournament, Fifa increased the overall prizemoney to US$110 million ($180 million), up from US$30 million ($50 million) in 2019.
It means that more than $5.2 million is on the line on Sunday evening.
New Zealand Football would receive around $3.03 million if the squad reached the second round, with the players set to bank $97,300 each as their reward, as part of a combined payment of $2.24 million.
They were already guaranteed around $49,000 – as part of Fifa’s new mandated payments to all participating players – but that could jump dramatically in Dunedin.
That money dwarfs other recent World Cups held in this country.
The White Ferns received a total of US$70,000 across the squad after their group stage exit at the 2022 Cricket World Cup, while the winning country banked a total of US$1.32 million.
The Black Ferns were allocated bonus payments of $25,000 each for winning the Rugby World Cup last November.
It would be life-changing money for many in the Ferns squad and for almost all of them it will be the biggest lump sum they have received. Though the women’s game has made great strides in the last decade, the economic rewards still aren’t really there for the majority.
A number of Ferns players based in Europe work in part-time jobs to supplement their income and even someone like Betsy Hassett, who has been playing offshore for more than a decade, has worked as an early childhood teacher, in a bakery and on a ski field.
“Doing something else on the side is good for your development as well,” Hassett tells the Herald. “It can be challenging on top of football but also rewarding. But [the prizemoney] is great; it’s great we as players get some money that we deserve, after working so hard doing what we love. It’s amazing that the prize money has gone up and I hope it keeps increasing in the future. It’s an exciting time.”
Hassett didn’t have any plans for the cash, just saying she would “Pay some bills.”
Betsy Hassett. Photo / Michael Craig
Fellow veteran Olivia Chance had similar sentiments.
“It will help every single player, said Chance, “I don’t think there would be any player that would say it wouldn’t. The contracts can still be quite short in women’s football and you want to live off your own work rather than living off other people. None of us play for the financial rewards but it great to be recognised.”
Like many of her teammates, it remains in the back of the mind for attacker Jacqui Hand, one of the Ferns stars thus far.
“It’'s awesome how Fifa have increased that,” said Hand. “It’s a lot of money to me but I think about some of the women and other teams that are less privileged and that can absolutely change their lives.
“It’s awesome there’s a minimum for every player selected for their country, as obviously women can’t earn as much in the professional game, even though it’s growing all the time.
The 24-year-old joked that she might buy some “new shoes or something” but she hadn’t really thought about it.
“It’s too far off at this point,” said Hand.
Jacqui Hand scored against the Philippines, but it was later ruled out. Photo / Getty Images
For 17-year-old Milly Clegg it will also be a massive windfall. The teenager had been on an amateur deal at the Wellington Phoenix – to keep the door open for an American university in the future - and has never had a “proper job”.
“I haven’t really thought about it much,” said Clegg. “It will probably just come into my bank account and I’ll put it away because I honestly don’t know what I would do with it.
“I didn’t really expect to be in the team so it never really crossed my mind that would be happening. I have no idea what I would do with it. Probably my parents will look after it for me because I don’t want to waste it.”
Michael Burgess has been a sports journalist since 2005, winning several national awards and covering Olympics, Fifa World Cups and America’s Cup campaigns. A football aficionado, Burgess will never forget the noise that greeted Rory Fallon’s goal against Bahrain in Wellington in 2009.
