More than 90% of female footballers
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It has been a tumultuous year for the sport. Huge highs – not least the phenomenal support around Euro 2017 and increasing professionalism across the top of European leagues – have been tempered by a cacophony of national team wage disputes while in
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All these things, the good and the bad, indicate the same thing: that women’s football is being taken more seriously than it has been in more than 100 years. Yet the overwhelming majority of players are not working in environments that foster longevity in the game. With 69% of players aged between 18 and 23, huge swathes are being lost before they hit their prime. The reasons for considering leaving early – financial, to start a family, to work, to study, sick of the lack of structure in football – highlight just how hard it is for women at the top to make football pay. A professional playing environment is one thing, but providing players with the
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In England, things are slightly rosier. Where globally the average contract length for players is 12 months (with 47% of those surveyed having no contract at all), in the Women’s Super League it stands at 21 months. Both of these figures, though, are inadequate. It is no wonder players worry about the future when, at best, they can secure two years at a club.
At the same time, an overwhelming majority of players do not earn enough from football to live on, let alone a wage that can offer long-term sustainability. A staggering 50% of those who participated in the survey
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Again, in England it is brighter, but wages still rank lower for the vast majority of players than would be considered liveable, with the average salary of the 99 surveyed WSL players found to be £749 to £1497 per month. While 26% said their club does not cover their football expenses, just 13% have a retirement fund and 11% have no written contract. It is no wonder, then, that 46% of players across the world said they study while they play and 30% work alongside their football to make ends meet.
The lack of support for players wanting to start a family is equally as damning. A devastatingly low 2% of players have children, a figure that in England drops to 1%. It is the second-biggest reason for leaving the game (behind finance) and a huge part of the lives of so many women, yet clubs seem incapable of providing support that gives players the confidence to believe they can have children before returning to their club and their playing career. Instead we see players hanging up
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Talent is going unharnessed, is being hindered by the struggle to make ends meet and is being lost entirely. It will be impossible for the quality of women’s football to improve, and for commercialism to increase, if players cannot commit to it professionally from an early age and for the long term.
The women’s game is growing, but the increase in – or introduction of – professionalism is not enough. Professionalism needs transforming and standardising from top to bottom. Professionalism that does not pay enough to live on, that fails to offer contractual security, that cannot provide for families and that cannot offer professional structures throughout, cannot be considered true professionalism. It is not sufficient. The players deserve better and this fledgling game needs much stronger foundations if it is going to make leaps in its growth and make that growth sustainable.
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