Last Thursday ushered in a sigh of relief for Spain’s women’s soccer league players. The league and union representatives confirmed the cessation of the impending strike, thanks to an agreement to bolster the players’ minimum wage. The player-initiated strike had resulted in an unprecedented interruption of matches; the first set of games being a no-show. Nevertheless, audiences can now look forward to the uninterrupted series of the second block of matches.
Until now, the pay disparity between men’s and women’s soccer leagues had been a glaring issue. The women players earned a minimum wage of 16,000 euros, which pales significantly in comparison to the men’s league minimum earnings of 182,000 euros. The newly struck deal aims to right this imbalance by escalating the minimum wage for women’s league players to 21,000 euros for the current season. The proposed enhancement charts a rise to 23,500 euros by the year 2025. Moreover, these figures could potentially surge further, contingent on revenue.
A look into last season’s earnings, of the 334 women league players, a startling 80 players earned less than 20,000 euros per year. The average salary floated around 40,000 euros, as per league records.
Spanning the backdrop of this wage negotiation and strike, a controversy unfolded involving Spanish soccer federation president, Luis Rubiales. He found himself entangled in a scandal following an unconsented kiss to a national team player during the Women’s World Cup awards ceremony. His consequential resignation on Sunday added a tumultuous twist to the recent events in Spain’s women’s soccer world.
