Brazil and England announce equal pay for men's and women's national soccer teams

The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) and the English Football Association (FA) announced last week that their women's national teams will receive the same pay as their male counterparts. While the FA confirmed in a statement that pay parity for its women's players had been introduced in January this year, CBF announced that it has equaled the prize money and daily rates between men's and women's football since March. The move came after several high profile players on both women's national teams strongly advocated for equal pay — a topic that has been in the spotlight since the USWNT filed a federal gender discrimination lawsuit against the US Soccer Federation, alleging bias in earnings and working conditions.

"Since March of this year, CBF has made an equal value in terms of prizes and daily rates between men's and women's football. That's to say, the players earn the same as those who are called up [to the national team]," CBF chief Rogerio Caboclo said in a press conference on Wednesday, reports CNN. "Women will receive the same daily rate as those who already receive them. The women's team that wins or progresses through the stages at next year's Olympic Games will receive the same as the men."

"What the men will receive at the next World Cup (2022) will be proportionately equal to what is proposed by FIFA. There is no more gender difference; the CBF is treating men and women equally," Caboclo added. This development comes as a personal win for players like the legendary Marta Vieira da Silva who, in a passionate speech following Brazil’s exit from the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, called upon her country to rally around the women's game. "This is what I ask of all Brazilian girls," she said with tears in her eyes, reports Forbes. "The future of women's football is depending on you to survive. It's wanting it more."

"There's not going to be a Formiga forever, there's not going to be a Marta forever, there's not going to be a Cristiane. Think about what I'm saying. Cry at the beginning so you can smile at the end," the Brazilian forward added. Marta, who holds the record for the all-time leading goal scorer in tournament history (both men's or women's), has been one of the strongest voices in the call for women’s empowerment and equality football. "We are trying to represent women and show how women can play any type of role," she said after scoring her record-breaking World Cup goal against Italy. "All the teams here, we are all representing [women]. Let me be clear, this is not only in sport."

According to ESPN, the CBF also announced the appointment of two women's football coordinators, Duda Luizelli and Aline Pellegrino, during the press conference. Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the FA said in a statement that the association "pays its women's players exactly the same as their male counterparts for representing England, both in terms of match fees and match bonuses." The move came after several high profile Lionesses, including the likes of Jordan Nobbs and Beth England, urged the FA to close the pay gap between the men's and women's national teams.

Brazil and England are the latest to move towards pay equality, following in the footsteps of New Zealand and Norway that have also already moved to address the pay gap between their men's and women's teams. Meanwhile, Australian football's governing body said in November that it had reached a new collective bargaining agreement with the players' union on closing the gap. The US, however, is considerably behind on the matter, as the USWNT's lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge in May, and a bid to immediately appeal the decision was denied.