World football body FIFA has announced its plan to pay prize money directly into the players’ accounts of the winners of the ongoing women’s World Cup in Australia/New Zealand.
FIFA Secretary-General, Fatma Samoura, confirmed this in a viral video on social media saying the policy change is due to unpaid allowance issues involving Nigeria’s Super Falcons.
The Falcons head coach, Randy Waldrum, had earlier revealed that some players were owed “per diem and bonuses” from two years ago.
The development caused a stir and almost affected the preparation of the Super Falcon players with most of them insisting on missing the training to protest their unpaid bonuses.
However, in the video, Samoura acknowledged that “things have been tough” for the Falcons.
She added that FIFA for the first time would monitor that match bonuses got to the players directly.
“I know that things have been tough. We have to face the realities of Nigeria. It pains me a lot. It is because of you (the Super Falcons) that, for the first time, the prize money has been ring-fenced in the history of FIFA to ensure that it goes to you,” the FIFA secretary-general said.
FIFA had announced that every player participating in the World Cup group stage would earn $30,000.
The match bonuses will increase to $60,000 in the second round of the competition.