FIFA doubles prize money for women's World Cup

Kigali: FIFA are to double the prize money on offer at the women's World Cup in time for next year's tournament in France, president Gianni Infantino confirmed on Friday.

Speaking at the end of a FIFA Council meeting in the Rwandan capital Kigali, Infantino confirmed an overall contribution of 50 million for the 24 participating nations.

This is, he said, "more than three times the amount paid in 2015," when the competition was held in Canada.

"Concretely this means a 100 percent increase in prize money from 15 to 30 million," Infantino added.

The added funds also include 11.5 million to help teams organise friendly matches before the World Cup, as well as 8.5 million to reward clubs releasing players for the tournament. Nevertheless, players union FIFPro released a statement to say that much more needed to be done towards achieving gender equality.

In comparison, the prize money for this year's 32-team men's World Cup in Russia was 400 million, a 48 million increase from 2014.