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Each player at the World Cup, which kicks off
on July 20 in Australia and New Zealand, will be guaranteed at
least a $30,000 payday in a FIFA first to distribute prize money
to individuals rather than federations.
All members of the winning team will take home $270,000, part of
a $110 million total prize pool that is roughly 300% higher than
in 2019.
That total figure still significantly trails what was offered at
the men's tournament in Qatar last year, where a $440 million
prize fund was available.
"FIFA has actually done - surprisingly (this is) coming out of
my mouth - a very good job at increasing the prize money,"
Morgan told reporters on Tuesday at a pre-tournament media day.
"We still have a ways to go, but having them direct payments to
the players is huge. I mean, it's a life changing thing for some
of these players entering the tournament. So coming away with
each player making at least $30,000 is huge."
The U.S. men's and women's teams agreed on landmark collective
bargaining agreements (CBAs) with U.S. Soccer last year that see
the players receive equal pay and prize money, including at
World Cups.
The two teams have identical performance-based bonuses for all
games and competitions under the CBAs, which were reached months
after the women's team and the federation resolved a years-long
dispute over equal pay.
"With U.S. Soccer, we have in our contract equal prize money
between the men and the women, which is a shared pot. And that's
the only federation in the world that does that," Morgan said.
"We're very happy that we fought for that and were able to
attain that. Now it's up to FIFA and the other federations to do
their part."
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in Los Angeles; Editing by Jamie
Freed)
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