England Women dispute FA over Euro 2025 bonuses

The England Women's football team is in a new dispute with the Football Association (FA) over bonuses for their upcoming European Championship. The squad has not agreed to the terms offered by the FA, which they believe are disappointing. A similar dispute happened before the World Cup two years ago. At that time, the FA hesitated to provide performance bonuses after FIFA changed payment structures for players. This led to negotiations being paused just before the tournament. Ultimately, the FA did agree to bonuses, but the issue wasn't fully resolved until after the team returned home. Currently, negotiations are ongoing. Senior players like captain Leah Williamson, along with Lucy Bronze and Millie Bright, are leading the discussions with help from the Professional Footballers’ Association. Though the FA has acknowledged the need for bonus payments, their initial offer is reportedly lower than bonuses given to other top teams. Spain, for example, awarded each of its World Cup-winning players about £250,000 and secured a strong bonus package for the upcoming European Championship. The Lionesses hope to receive more than the £55,000 each player got for winning Euro 2022, especially since UEFA has increased prize money for the tournament. The FA has previously equalized match fees for men and women, but bonus payments still differ significantly because of the larger prize money available in men's tournaments. For instance, England's men's team could have shared a £14 million bonus for winning last summer, which is ten times what the female team received for their Euro victory. As the team prepares for matches against Belgium, Spain, and Portugal ahead of the tournament, coach Sarina Weigman hopes the bonus issue will be sorted before their training camp in May. The FA did not provide any comments on the situation.