UEFA doubles women’s EURO prize money.

England is about to stage the most lucrative Women’s European Championship yet after UEFA announced they were doubling prize money for the EURO 2022 tournament.

European football’s governing body, UEFA said in a statement on Thursday that it has doubled the prize money of the Women’s EURO Championship starting from the next year’s showpiece.

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Therefore, the 16 qualified teams will now share €16 million, double the €8 million that was distributed at EURO 2017 in the Netherlands.

The body also approved the introduction of a programme which will see teams that release players for the EUROs rewarded with payouts from a €4.5 million fund.

The decisions were announced following a UEFA executive committee meeting in Chisinau, Moldova on Wednesday.

The women’s tournament, originally scheduled for this year but postponed by 12 months because of the COVID-19 pandemic, is now set to take place in England from 6th of July to 31st of same month in 2022.

UEFA’s move comes at a time when FIFA is proposing introducing a Women’s World Cup every two years, a concept that England’s new head coach Sarina Wiegman this week described as “not very good for the players, for their welfare”.

UEFA said its latest decision reaffirmed its strong financial commitment to the whole of European football.

“The financial distribution will include increased guaranteed amounts and performance-based bonuses for the group stage.

“The increases in financial distributions and introduction of a club benefits programme are key strategic initiatives of UEFA’s women’s football strategy, TimeForAction, ensuring that more money than ever before is distributed across the women’s game.”

Despite UEFA ramping up investment, there remains a wide disparity between financial rewards at the men’s and women’s elite levels.

The men’s EURO 2020 tournament repirtedly offered a prize fund of around €330million and now with the latest increment, the women’s EURO will receive €16million.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino promised in 2019 that the next Women’s World Cup, in 2023, would see prize money at least double to $60million. The men will play for $440million at next year’s World Cup in Qatar.