13 July 2023 , 11:00
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A minimum salary could be introduced in the Women's Super League by 2025-26 as part of wide-ranging recommendations made by an independent review into the future of women's domestic football.
A major review chaired and published by former England international Karen Carney has called for significant reform of the women's domestic game in the UK, including for the professionalisation of the Women's Super League and Women's Championship.
A new dedicated broadcast slot to be allotted for women's football and the redirection of men's FA Cup prise money have also been advised.
The professionalisation of women's football in the top two tiers of the English game would see operating standards raise, including the introduction of a minimum salary into the WSL by 2025/26.
A minimum contact time between players and clubs in the Championship from eight hours a week to 20 would also be introduced by 2027/28.
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Last autumn, a BBC report stated that on average footballers in the top-flight of the women's game earned £47,000 a year.
The numbers were based on available published results from seven of the 12 teams in the women's league for the salary bill for players and associated staff including managers.
However, a separate investigation from Telegraph Sport found that salaries ranged from as little as £20,000 per annum to as much as £250,000, plus bonuses, across the 12 top clubs, with an expectation that the top end of the spectrum would rise throughout the year.
While salaries have risen drastically over the last few years, the gulf in average salary afforded women's footballers in comparison to men's is stark, with the BBC reporting that Premier League players earn around 100 times more than WSL players.
The report did not state what the minimum salary would be.
Also included in the minimum operating standards were demands for the provision of gold standard physical and mental well-being, elite training facilities, world-leading parental packages, full union representation for both tiers and offering transition help after retirement.
Carney recognised the significant cost implications for clubs and the FA but argued that the game's future hinged on such investment.
Carney predicted that women's football could be a billion-pound industry within 10 years if the right investment is accomplished now.
Karen Carney chaired the independent review into the future of women's domestic football (Action Foto Sport/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock)“I have to have every confidence that these recommendations will be implemented and with urgency,” the WSL Hall of Famer said.
“This should never, ever sit on the shelf, it’s got to stand for something."
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Other key calls of the review included the identification of a new strategic partner to invest in improving the talent pathway and academy structure and an immediate address of the lack of diversity across the women’s game in on and off-pitch roles.
The independent women’s football review was recommended in the 2021 fan-led review of football governance, and was commissioned by the Government in September last year.