Woeful funding for women's soccer around the world is a disgrace

This is a column by Shireen Ahmed, who writes opinion for CBC Sports.  For more information about  CBC's Opinion section , please see the  FAQ .

The popularity of women's soccer is on the rise. It continues to break records on a global scale, whether it is more than one million tickets sold for next month's Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, or the amount of fans in stadiums across the U.S.A and Europe watching league finals. There is also an increase of pay by FIFA for women footballers and a commitment to equalizing prize money for men and women in the next few years.

The growth of women’s soccer is not slowing down! <br><br>FIFA is increasing the prize money for the 2023 Women’s World Cup! This is a 300% increase compared to the 2019 tournament with a goal of equalizing the prize money for the men’s and women’s World Cups by 2027.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/itstime?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#itstime</a> <a href="https://t.co/Mf1HQCGVob">pic.twitter.com/Mf1HQCGVob</a>

This is important because FIFPRO, an organization which advocates for players around the world, came out with a report that showed of 362 women players surveyed, 29 per cent were not paid for World Cup qualification matches, 54 per cent did not get a pre-tournament medical exam and, perhaps most alarming, 66 per cent had to take leave (many unpaid) from their jobs. The path to Women's World Cup glory needs to be leveled. 

The path to the Women's World Cup has been vastly uneven.<br><br>A report from global players' union FIFPRO outlined the disparity in standards and conditions for qualifying for the teams that vied for the 32 spots in the tournament, which starts July 20.<a