(Reuters) – 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$1.1 million ($703,780.00) 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$1.1 million was split across the top four teams in 2022. The prize pot remains the same for this year.
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 Sept. 1.
“We have two of the best sporting competitions in the country,” AFL Chief Executive 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$200 million for women’s sport after the Matildas reached the World Cup semi-finals. The team finished in fourth place.
($1 = 1.5630 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Hritika Sharma in Hyderabad; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
