US veteran Morgan sees progress in FIFA's World Cup prize plan

LOS ANGELES : A new FIFA plan to distribute Women's World Cup prize money directly to players will help level the playing field for competitors, United States forward Alex Morgan said on Tuesday, ahead of her fourth appearance at the tournament.

Each player at the World Cup, which kicks off on July 20 in Australia and New Zealand, will be guaranteed at least a $30,000 payday in a FIFA first to distribute prize money to individuals rather than federations.

All members of the winning team will take home $270,000, part of a $110 million total prize pool that is roughly 300 per cent higher than in 2019.

That total figure still significantly trails what was offered at the men's tournament in Qatar last year, where a $440 million prize fund was available.

"FIFA has actually done - surprisingly (this is) coming out of my mouth - a very good job at increasing the prize money," Morgan told reporters on Tuesday at a pre-tournament media day.

"We still have a ways to go, but having them direct payments to the players is huge. I mean, it's a life changing thing for some of these players entering the tournament. So coming away with each player making at least $30,000 is huge."

The U.S. men's and women's teams agreed on landmark collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) with U.S. Soccer last year that see the players receive equal pay and prize money, including at World Cups.

The two teams have identical performance-based bonuses for all games and competitions under the CBAs, which were reached months after the women's team and the federation resolved a years-long dispute over equal pay.

"With U.S. Soccer, we have in our contract equal prize money between the men and the women, which is a shared pot. And that's the only federation in the world