The England squad is a “very empowered” group of players who are keen to make a difference in the women’s game, defender Lucy Bronze said after the team released a joint statement announcing they will pause discussions with the English FA on performance-related bonuses until after the Women’s World Cup.
The England players have been pushing to receive bonuses on top of the fees they will receive from governing body FIFA.
In June, FIFA announced that every player participating in the tournament would receive a minimum of $30,000, with the 23 players from the championship-winning team receiving $270,000 each.
On Tuesday, captain Millie Bright shared a joint statement by the Lionesses on Twitter saying the team is “disappointed” that a resolution had still not been achieved with the FA, despite players presenting their concerns last year.
“It’s the first time as a player group that we’ve actually sent a message out ourselves, that we’ve collectively done together,” Bronze told reporters on Wednesday. “So, in that respect, it’s a very empowered player group, last night, this morning, and these past few weeks.
“We felt it was important that we sent the message out because there has been some talk, we want to show that we’re focused on the World Cup, that that is our main focus.”
Bronze said the players are completely focused on reaching the World Cup final and that the talks with the FA also took place before the Euros last year, which England won on home soil.
“We strive to make a difference,” Bronze added. “Although we’re just players who play football, we are pushing to make changes, we want women’s football to be in a better place, and not just for ourselves but for the future of the game long past when I’m retired.
“We want to keep pushing the game further, rather than just being like: ‘OK, this is where we sit,”. That’s something that we do regularly, every single tournament, every single year: ‘What’s next, how can we push the game on?’
“It’s about pushing every single angle that we can to make sure that women’s football can smash through that ceiling that we’re constantly getting put under.”
England begin their Group D campaign against Haiti on Saturday, before facing China and Denmark.
Player Disputes
England are not the only World Cup team locked in a dispute with their FA.
Olympic champions Canada have been involved in a labor dispute with Canada Soccer for more than a year, while several Spain players threatened to quit the national team in a protest against their coach and complained to the Spanish federation about their issues with the coach’s handling of team training and selection, as well as the locker room atmosphere.
Elsewhere, France hired a new coach, Herve Renard, after some of their key players, including captain Wendie Renard, refused to play under their former coach Corinne Diacre.
In Africa, Nigeria threatened to boycott World Cup games over the distribution of tournament revenue and South Africa were also involved in a pay dispute with their federation.
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