UK football league reduces injury pay for women

LONDON: Several of England’s leading football clubs have slashed the benefits offered to women players, and are providing them with far less protection than their male counterparts, contracts signed by players and clubs show.

Last year, the Football Association (FA), English football’s governing body, made changes to the standard Women’s Super League contract which all players employed by the 11 clubs in the league must sign.

The amendments reduced sick or injury pay and allowed clubs to sack injured players who have been unable to play for as little as three months, compared with 18 months in the case of men in the top English league.

Maren Mjelde, who plays for Londonbased Chelsea, criticised the new termination clause in the contracts.

“It’s very disappointing. No players choose to be injured,” said Mjelde who also plays for the women’s national team in Norway, where men and women representing the country receive the same compensation following an agreement last year.

“I think it’s horrible that it is in the contracts and that it should be removed,” she said.

The details emerging from the Football Leaks documents, which include e-mails and player contracts, come from a trove obtained by the German publication DerSpiegel and reviewed by Reuters in partnership with European Investigative Collaborations, a consortium of international media.

The England FA run the Women’s Super League, the country’s premier professional tournament for women.

The league’s rules require all contracted players to be employed using the standard contract. Clubs can decide whether to enforce restrictive clauses in contracts but cannot omit them. — Reuters

The PFA (Professional Footballers’ Association) acknowledged being involved in the contract revision process.

However, Matthew Buck, Director of PFA Player Management, said his organisation had recommended to the FA that they adopt the contract used for Premiership male players for the Women’s Super League, rather than reduce the protection offered to women players.