Minimum salaries are being introduced in the Women’s Super League and WSL2 this season and will stop second-tier players needing part-time jobs on the side, Holly Murdoch, the chief operating officer of WSL Football, has told the Guardian.
WSL2 has moved to fully professional criteria and its minimum “salary floor” has been agreed in collaboration with the Professional Footballers’ Association, Murdoch said. Previously, average salaries were understood to be so low at some clubs that many second-tier players needed additional income from jobs such as teaching or physiotherapy
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“I think we’ve come up with a floor that will have a meaningful impact for our players,” Murdoch said. “We consulted with the PFA, they were a really important stakeholder on this, and this is something that has to remain under review constantly because the game is changing so quickly. We’ll analyse all the data off the back of this transfer window and updated salaries, and then we’ll review all of the policy around it again as the game grows.”
The NWSL in the United States has a minimum salary of €48,500 (£36,170) this year. The WSL has not revealed the minimum salaries for the WSL and WSL 2 but Murdoch says the figure will be different for specific age groups, and different in each division.
“We wanted to make sure that they could focus on being a footballer, not focus on a part-time job over here and the pressures that come with that, [helping] players focus all their energies on being the very best footballer on the pitch that they can be. We did a huge, 18-month project; this wasn’t something that we just thought up two months ago and rolled it out. It took extensive consultation.
“It’s not as easy as just saying: ‘Oh, it’s this amount of money a year,’ because there are different thresholds depending on your age group. It [was also about] making it a jump that was affordable. I think we’re all aware, women’s football is still financially fragile. We’re seeing wonderful growth and it’s such an exciting period, but we know that costs outweigh revenue short-term. We know the revenue opportunity in the women’s game is phenomenal, but we do need to be really thoughtful about not just loading costs into any business. We have to be adding value.
“We’re also putting more support around those players, so there will be a number of additional mandatory roles that will be rolled out – we’re introducing a [mandatory] performance wellbeing role within all of our clubs. Football traditionally hasn’t moved in that space, but we see the importance of supporting athletes.”
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