The legacy of the 2023 Women's World Cup continues to be felt Down Under, with cash-strapped A-League sides netting tens of thousands of dollars as part of FIFA's club benefits programme.
First introduced in 2019 and growing from US $8.48m to $11.3m for 2023, numbers released by FIFA on Tuesday -- a year on from the start of the landmark tournament -- revealed that 54 clubs across the Australian pyramid will share an estimated US $417,659 as part of the scheme, the eighth-most of any federation. English clubs will see the most, with US $1,434,787 to be split amongst 37 clubs, while Spanish giants Barcelona will receive the largest sum of any one club at US $246,691.
Funds are sent to national federations by FIFA to then distribute to the relevant clubs, with Football Australia having already sent the allocated payments to eligible recipients.
Divided into two equal pots, 50% of the funding distributed by the programme is allocated to clubs that released players for the World Cup: clubs receiving a set figure per day that one of their players was at the tournament, starting from the commencement of the release period -- July 10, 2023 -- to the day after their last game. The other pot is earmarked to support clubs that players were registered to between the ages of 12 to 22 -- called eligible training clubs -- with the funds distributed based on a calculator of how long they spent with them.
Used as an example by FIFA, 22-year-old Charlotte Grant's involvement through to the Matildas' appearance in a third-place game, for instance, saw her then-employer, Vittsjö GIK, receive US $13,081 for both training and releasing the defender under the methodology. However, the South Australian's former clubs in FC Rosengård, Adelaide United, Blacktown Spartans, and Cumberland United also received funds as eligible training clubs.
Able to tap into both kitties, A-League Women sides that both released and trained players will see the most cash from the FIFA distributions, with numbers from FIFA showing that Brisbane Roar received approximately AU $57.2k, Sydney FC $52.8k and Western Sydney Wanderers $52.1k. Melbourne Victory, Canberra United, Perth Glory, and Melbourne City will all receive sums between $28k and $40.5k, while the Newcastle Jets, though not releasing any players for the tournament, netted a $24k infusion as an eligible training club. Western United will make $18.4k, the Central Coast Mariners $14.7k and Adelaide United US $14.2k under the plan.
NPL NSW side Blacktown Spartans received the most of any side outside of the A-League under the scheme, FIFA's numbers revealing they had been allotted $20.2k as a training club. Member federation- and government-run bodies will also see a windfall, with the NSW Institute of Sport receiving $18.6k, the SA NTC $16.4k and the Queensland Academy of Sport $12k.
"This return is a very welcome bonus to the clubs and offers value and incentive to the clubs to develop top players," said former USWNT and Matildas coach Tom Sermanni, now Western Sydney Wanderers women's football boss.
"It is valuable for A-League clubs to receive recognition and be rewarded and that is a big bonus for the teams. It allows us to put money back into the game and further invest."
The funds from FIFA will provide a small but noticeable boost to A-League clubs, who are seeking to plug the gap left in the budgets by the APL's move to slash central distributions for the coming season -- the $530k figure an approximate $1.5m cut on the figures a season prior.
The Wellington Phoenix will receive their distributions through New Zealand Football, one of 30 clubs that will receive money through the scheme in the OFC.
"This is a really important step forward for grassroots and senior clubs, and is especially important to develop facilities, coaches and all areas of the game," said Annalie Longo, a Football Fern and Women's Development Manager at NZF.
"It is hard to get sponsorship in New Zealand and bring money into the game so this helps development to continue the growth and sustainability in women's football.
"Women's football is certainly growing thanks to last year's Women's World Cup. We saw a 13% growth on the back of the extra exposure but it also means a strain on clubs.
"So the World Cup did amazing things for exposure and growth, now we need to utilise money like this which can really help."