CANBERRA, Nov. 5 (Xinhua) -- The women's football team of Australia will be guaranteed equal pay with the Socceroos for the first time under a reportedly world-first agreement to treat the two national teams equally.
According to the report of The Australian on Tuesday, the pool of money for payments to both the male and female senior national teams will be identical, and all commercial revenues associated with both teams will be split 50-50 between them.
Historically, the Socceroos, like most men's national teams in the world, have been allocated a greater share of commercial revenues and been paid more to play compared to the Matildas (nickname of the women's national team of Australia).
Some teams in the world have asked their own football associations for greater parity, with the US women's national team, the world champion, filing a law suit against the US Soccer Federation alleging "institutionalised gender discrimination" over pay and bonuses in March this year.
It's hoped that the deal in Australia will be completed in time to be announced before the Matildas face Chile at home for a double-header of friendlies in this month ahead of the Olympic qualifying tournament in February next year.
"Obviously it's a welcome investment into women's football and we're really excited about it," Matildas captain Sam Kerr told Channel Seven.
"It hasn't been finalized so hopefully we can get the deal over the edge, but yeah, it's exciting."
Under the new deal, both the Matildas and Socceroos playing groups will share 40 per cent of commercial revenue and prize money associated with the senior national teams, according to The Australian.
It is an increase on the 30 per cent share under the previous deal, but more significant is the agreement to share that 40 per cent equally between male and female players.
While in practice, the men will be able to receive more in terms of prize money as the rewards at the men's World Cup are much higher, but the principle of equity extends to both teams receiving the same percentage of money coming in.
