June 21 – Players vying to make this summer’s Women’s World Cup risked their safety on poor pitches during qualifying, and many were not paid according to the latest report from players’ union Fifpro.
Nearly 30% of international players polled for the report said that they have been playing for nothing while two-thirds said they had to take unpaid leave from their jobs to represent their country.
For the teams heading to Australia and New Zealand the disparity in standards has been marked, including medical checks.
The survey of players from all six FIFA confederations found 54% did not receive a pre-tournament medical examination while 70% did not receive heart monitoring before qualifying began and 39% did not have access to mental health support.
“Any stat below 100% in access to important medical checks is unacceptable,” Fifpro women’s football lead Sarah Gregorius (pictured) said.
“We just want to work with whoever wants to work with us, particularly Fifa and the confederations, to understand why that is the case and how that can be prevented [from happening again] because that is certainly not something that should be acceptable to anybody.”
The foreword to the qualifying conditions report, co-signed by Fifpro president David Aganzo and general secretary Jonas Baer-Hoffmann, read: “During qualification the conditions that the players are exposed to and expected to deliver in, during some of the biggest competitive moments of their lives, are not up to the standards of elite international football, putting both the players and the sport at risk.
“In highlighting these conditions and the status of players across the globe, Fifpro firmly calls on the industry to take a closer look at the qualification processes in each of the six confederations.
“This is so we all can commit to meaningful changes that look at the overall opportunities the FIFA Women’s World Cup can deliver to a greater number of players than those that just appear at the final tournament in July and August this year.”
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