After the team made it to the final of the recent European Championships, German chancellor Olaf Scholz has made a push for equal pay for female international footballers.
Scholz said on Tuesday after a meeting with the German Football Association DFB to discuss the issue, my position is clear. We talked about how we can help more girls and women get excited about football. He said that the wages at such tournaments play a major role in this.
It makes sense to talk about equal pay. I made a suggestion and I am very grateful that there is a willingness to discuss this issue. Germany won their biggest tournament success at this year's European Championships in 2015 and lost to England in the final at Wembley.
Scholz also supported the women's team by tweeting: It is 2022 and women and men should be paid equally. This applies to sports, especially for national teams. Germany's women would have received €60,000 50,750 if they had triumphed at the tournament, while the men would have received €400,000 338,338 each if they won at the Euros last year.
Bernd Neuendorf, president of the DFB, said he understood the argument that equal work and success should also have the same value and was willing to discuss in our committees whether our payment system is up to date or whether it should be adjusted. Germany's coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg suggested that international footballers' wages could be evened out by paying women more and men less. She said officials must now follow up with action after the meeting.
Scholz said he was very proud of the performance of the women at the Euros, even though it didn't quite work out. He hopes that it will have a long lasting effect on the players, not only on the players themselves, but also on football in Germany.