Spanish women’s football on strike: how much do female players earn?
The Liga F and players unions failed to reach an agreement over minimum salary and working conditions. The latest offer was rejected after a 10-hour meeting.
Spanish women’s football announced strike action on Wednesday as the latest attempt to improve working conditions foundered. Mediators SIMA (Servicio Interconfederal de Mediación y Arbitraje), employers and players’ unions failed to reach an agreement and women’s football in Spain will be paralyzed and will not start this weekend as planned. Sevilla and Granadilla Tenerife were scheduled to kickstart the 2023/24 season on Friday but now, it looks like there will be no women’s football in Spain...
The last offer proposed by Liga F was a minimum salary of 20,000 euros gross per year plus a series of improvements as announced yesterday in a statement, figures that have not been agreed upon after three straight days of conversations culminating in a meeting that started at 10:30 this morning and ran on for almost 10 hours.
No middle ground could be found regarding the minimum wage, which in the end has been the major difference. The syndicates proposed an minimum annual salary of €23,000, having lowered their previous proposal of €25,000. However, management were unwilling to go any higher than their final offer of €20,000 - a 25% increase on their initial proposal of €16,000.
Disagreements about the minimum wage is what has forced Liga F to go on strike. Other important issues, such as maternity leave, post-retirement benefits, support for studying and education, or formation rights, were not discussed. The players have decided to go ahead with their planned strike for the first two matchdays of the new campaign. Conversations between both parties will resume on Tuesday in a bid to get women’s football back up and running.
What is the minimum wage for players in Spain’s Liga F?
In the Liga F, the top division of the women’s football league in Spain, salaries have always been low. The 2019 agreement set the minimum wage for a Liga F player at 16,000 euros gross ($17,400), which works out at monthly payments of €1,140 ($1,240), before tax (15%) in 14 payments. No progress has been made since then.
In April this year, the AFE proposed a minimum salary of 25,000 euros. However, Liga F players issued a statement through the five syndicates that represent women’s football (FUTPRO, AFE, FutbolistasOn, CCOO and UGT), rejecting the proposal. The syndicates are calling for a minimum wage of 30,000 euros, in a five-year agreement applied retroactively from 2020.