Uefa doubles Women’s Euro 2022 prize money but still a fraction of men’s

The prize fund for the 2022 Women’s European Championship finals in England has been doubled, Uefa said on Thursday, but the new figure is still only 4.3% of the money that is made available to teams competing in the men’s tournament.

The European governing body has increased money available to the 16 qualifying teams for the women’s Euros to €16m (£13.7m) from €8m and approved the introduction of a system which will see club sides remunerated for the release of players with payouts from a €4.5m fund.

However, the 24 men’s teams competing in the men’s Euros this summer shared a total prize pot of €371m and the winning Italy team earned up to €34m alone. Meanwhile, men’s clubs with players released to take part were guaranteed a share of at least €200m.

The decision to double the women’s prize pot comes following a Uefa executive committee meeting in Chisinau, Moldova on Wednesday and the governing body added that details of its financial distribution scheme would be made available soon.
The governing body said it was “ensuring that more money than ever before is distributed across the women’s game.”

The women’s Euros, originally scheduled for the summer of 2021 but postponed by 12 months because of the pandemic, is set to take place in England in July next year.