The United States Women’s National Team — aka USWNT — is by far the most successful women’s soccer team in the world, having won four World Cups. But they can’t rest on their laurels.
That’s because there isn’t a robust infrastructure for women’s soccer leagues throughout the world, and most high-level female players don’t come anywhere close to the type of earnings that their male counterparts receive. According to contract data compiled by Statista, just one player, Australia’s Sam Kerr, will make more than a half-million dollars in 2023, while there are hundreds of male players who are earning at least that much.
See also: The top 5 highest-paid women’s soccer players at the 2023 Women’s World Cup
This is why many participants in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup have to capitalize on as many money-making opportunities as they can while the spotlight is on them over the next four weeks.
And it’s a pretty big spotlight. A total of 1.12 billion viewers watched the broadcast coverage of the 2019 Women’s World Cup across all platforms, FIFA says — the highest the tournament has ever had. And some estimates forecast a 79% increase in viewers for the 2023 tournament.
“It’s got the potential to vault an athlete into public consciousness in a very dramatic way,” super-agent Leigh Steinberg told MarketWatch.
Steinberg represents star athletes such as NFL quarterbacks Patrick Mahomes and Tua Tagovailoa, in addition to several Olympic athletes who participate in less popular sports. And he warns that it’s possible for some athletes to “fade away” after their competition ends. Remember 2000 U.S. gold medalist in wrestling Rulon Gardner? Or 2008 gold medalist in swimming Aaron Peirsol? They haven’t exactly remained household names despite their incredible achievements.
But Steinberg helped keep U.S. figure skater Brian Boitano in the spotlight after he became a household name during the 1988 Calgary Winter Games. Boitano won the gold medal for the men’s singles in a final matchup with Canadian Brian Orser, which was famously dubbed the “Battle of the Brians.” Steinberg was able to secure Boitano roles on skate film projects like “Carmen on Ice” and “Ice Wars” that came out shortly after his Olympic run.
Steinberg also suggests that, at a minimum, athletes competing in these types of global events that occur just once every two or four years should participate in the celebrity-making machine that is the early-morning talk-show circuit, as well as late night talk shows and magazine cover stories. This can help an athlete increase their celebrity and social media following; something he refers to as the “new currency” for modern athletes. American soccer star and USWNT player Alex Morgan has 14 million followers on all her social media accounts, for example, where she has put up recent sponsored posts with Nike
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and BodyArmor. Teammate Megan Rapinoe has roughly 3 million followers across her social media accounts, which feature sponsored posts from LEGO and Google
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See also: Women’s World Cup offers a reset for FIFA and sponsors after controversy reigned in Qatar, according to branding expert
Of course, World Cup athletes should focus on their duties on the field, first and foremost —but their business teams should be ready to strike if a big moment happens during any of their matches, industry insiders say.
Russ Spielman, executive vice president of talent marketing & at GSE, a leading sports marketing and management company, represented former USWNT player Brandi Chastain and helped her take advantage of her big, breakout moment in 1999. Chastain scored the decisive penalty kick in the 1999 Women’s World Cup, and subsequently had one of the most iconic celebrations in sports history when she ripped off her jersey and yelled into the sky. Spielman recognized that Chastain was about to board a “rocket ship,” he says.
“We were doing everything you could to capitalize and leverage it to make sure she could keep prolonging that, making it sustainable. It really was a seminal moment for women’s sports,” Spielman told MarketWatch. “There were the traditional appearances and endorsements that we were doing right away, but then there were other rooms that she got into, and events and things she attended where she became, let’s say, one of five women in the world that were must-have.”
For example, after her World Cup moment, Spielman says Chastain was more easily able to get meetings with big agencies and Fortune 500 leaders — and she even presented at the ESPY Awards.
But what about players who are vaulted into the zeitgeist during the World Cup, who may not have as big of a moment as Chastain, or who don’t have 10 million Instagram followers like Morgan? What should they do to capitalize?
“If you’re a lesser-known player, being accessible provides a lot more opportunities,” Spielman said. “There’s gonna be people that are going to want to touch [the World Cup] and can’t afford the superstars, so being that tier B player that is willing to say ‘yes,’ you’re going to do pretty darn well.”
Plus, it’s not always the best players who have the largest social media followings, Spielman added, and athletes or celebrities with large online followings can sometimes get a disproportionate amount of endorsements compared to a better player with a smaller online presence.
So what’s the baseline pay that players make by simply getting into the World Cup?
The 2023 Women’s World Cup has $150 million in total prize money, up 300% from the $30 million in total given out in 2019, but still much lower than the $440 that was given out at the 2022 men’s tournament in Qatar. FIFA, which organizes the World Cup, has said that it’s an “objective” to achieve pay parity between the men’s and women’s tournaments by 2027.
Each player is guaranteed $30,000 for participating in the 2023 tournament, which is up from $14,000 in 2019. That’s significant for many players, who in some cases don’t have club teams that pay salaries, are semi-pros or even amateurs. But if they strike while iron is hot over the next few weeks, they could net even more.
The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup kicked off on July 20 and ends on August 20, and is being co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand. The USWNT, winners of the last two World Cups, play their first game on Friday, July 21 at 9 p.m. Eastern against Vietnam.
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