Are women football players getting a raw deal?

The scene has become rapidly less remarkable: 59,402 paying fans watching a women's football match. On this occasion, it's in London, a Women's Super League clash between Arsenal and Chelsea in mid-December. But it's happened and continues to occur in Australia, the USA and several European nations.

Such attendance is further proof of the surging growth in women's sport, driven by football above all else. A recent report by accounting firm Deloitte predicted that women's sports would cross the $1 billion (€928 million) global revenue threshold in 2024 for the first time, with football accounting for $555 million.

But such rapid growth has raised significant questions about its cost for the players union FIFPRO, who released their own report on the 2023 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand on the same day. It revealed that the players, whose impact on growing the game was evident on the pitch, in the stands and at the merchandising stalls, may be paying an unfair price.

The report surveyed 260 players from 26 of the 32 teams and found that one in three earns less than $30,000 a year from football (not including FIFA's World Cup bonus), and one in five needs a second job as a result.

Tough grind

Though the change is relatively recent, those on the pitch in London, and in the WSL in general, are fully professional. But that is only the case in a few leagues worldwide, and even then, players are well-paid at only the elite clubs. Even there, conditions are imperfect, with two-thirds of players admitting they felt short of their physical peak. Several of Arsenal's players made the last four of the World Cup in Australia and then faced a Champions League qualifier just over two weeks later.

Steph Catley was one of those. The fullback captained Australia in four matches as they fell at the semifinals and was back playing a competitive match in London, a 24-hour flight away, just 18 days after the third-place playoff. The recovery period was a day less for Arsenal's England internationals.

"Every break is very much welcomed at this stage," Catley told DW of the upcoming Christmas pause in the WSL. "It is a lot of games, especially playing for Australia, where we do a lot of extra travel. That is something we're having to be careful of. That is something our medical and coaching staff do a really good job of managing. It's just important to know your body."

Elite players like Catley at least don't have to balance second jobs or studies with their sporting careers and enjoy access to improved medical and fitness infrastructure, particularly at those clubs linked with major men's sides. But even for them, the effects of travel and match demands can quickly take a toll.

"If players don't have that secure period of at least three weeks, or ideally five weeks, after a long campaign before going into pre-season, then it's not only dangerous from the physical and physiological point of view but from a mental perspective as well," said FIFPRO's Chief Medical Officer Prof Dr. Vincent Gouttebarge.

That was not the case for Alessia Russo, Catley, Lotte Wubben-Moy, Caitlin Foord, and plenty of others in leagues around the world, who were back to playing high-profile matches, let alone training and traveling, so soon after the final in Sydney or third-place playoff in Brisbane. The introduction of a Nations League for women's football this year has further increased the number of matches squeezed into the calendar, and so too will upcoming changes to the UEFA Champions League.

Growth, but at what cost?

Evidence of those demands was neatly present in this London derby. The scorer of Arsenal's first goal, Beth Mead, missed the World Cup with an anterior cruciate ligament injury that has become such a curse for the women's game while her teammate and England captain Leah Williamson has still not recovered from the same injury. Williamson's replacement as England skipper Millie Bright, missed the derby and the buildup to the World Cup after being the player who played the most minutes in the whole of Europe in the 2021-22 season.

"Our schedules are way more demanding now," she told DW earlier this year, before the World Cup. "We're expected to do tournament after tournament after tournament while competing for every trophy when you play in those top-end clubs. It's impossible to keep going and we're not robots, our bodies are going to break down," she added, in prophetic fashion. 

The report did acknowledge the massive strides made at the top end of the women's game, with gender-equal conditions on accommodation, transport, and support staff negotiated for the World Cup and more money flowing into the game. But as Deloitte noted:

"This surge in fan and investor engagement is leading to new and improved opportunities for clubs and leagues, including greater commercial partnerships, increased participation and bigger matchdays. To ensure this growth remains consistent and sustainable, sports organizations must ensure that investment is directed to the right places, such as encouraging fan loyalty, player welfare, and maintaining competition across leagues."

Women's football, at the very top level, is now at something of a crossroads: to grow in the way the men's game has, with money as its main driver or to go a little slower and look after those that made it interesting in the first place.

Edited by: James Thorogood