Female Australian rules players to get same prize money as men

Prize money for the women’s top flight of Australian Rules football will almost double for its upcoming eighth season and match the men’s total for the first time, the Australian Football League (AFL) said on Monday.

A total of A$1.1m ($703,780) will be split among the top eight teams in the AFL Women’s (AFLW) competition, up from A$623,922 in its seventh season.

In the men’s competition, A$1.1m was split across the top four teams in 2022. The prize pot remains the same for 2023.

From eight teams in 2017, AFLW expanded to 14 in 2020 and added another four teams last season to reach parity with the 18-team men’s AFL. The eighth AFLW season begins on September 1.

“We have two of the best sporting competitions in the country,” AFL CEO Andrew Dillon said. “I am pleased to be able to announce equal players prize money for both our elite AFL and AFLW competitions.”

The announcement was made in the wake of the Fifa Women’s World Cup, where Australia’s players called out gender disparity in the competition’s prize money days before the tournament kicked off on their home turf.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pledged A$200m for women’s sport after the Matildas reached the World Cup semifinals. The team finished in fourth place.

Reuters