When England and Canada lock horns this weekend in the Women’s World Cup final, there is an extra prize available to John Mitchell’s players if they win.
If England beat Canada in the Women’s World Cup final, there is a huge bonus waiting for them. (Image: Morgan Harlow – World Rugby/World Rugby via Getty Images)
After defeating France 35-17 in the Women’s World Cup semi-finals, England have booked themselves a place in the showpiece event of the 2025 tournament. Hannah Botterman put in a superb performance, making three turnovers in the first half alone, before setting up fellow superstar Ellie Kildunne for her to score.
When asked whether there were celebrations, she simply replied, “No”, before adding that they hadn’t won anything yet. Awaiting them in the final is Canada, who bested the Black Ferns 34-19 in the last four. As well as the prospect of becoming world champions, there is a significant sum of prize money on offer if the Red Roses can secure the victory.
In 2023, England’s senior players signed three-year deals which, of course, covered this year’s World Cup. A total of 32 players were awarded contracts at the time.
It saw two more contracts than the previous season and also included transition contracts. Botterman and Kildunne were among those chosen for the senior deals two years ago, which will expire next year.
As well as increasing the length of contracts and number of them, there are major changes to the following – salary, match fees, 2025 Rugby World Cup arrangements and commercial and community engagements.
The Telegraph reported that there are five tiers to the contracts, with those on the highest bracket earning £45,000 a year, which was increased to £49,600 in July this year.
How much could England get for winning the World Cup?
Purely for being selected to play at this year’s World Cup, England players were paid £5,000 each, which is double what they earned last time.
There is an added £15,000 bonus if they win the tournament itself. Therefore, in total, England players could bag £20,000 if they secure the win on Saturday.
“The new contracts are a significant development and a mark of the advancement in the women’s game since they were first awarded,” Rugby Football Union (RFU) executive director of performance Conor O’Shea said in 2023.
“We have led the way with the introduction of contracts, as well as provision such as the ground-breaking maternity policy introduced earlier this year for our female athletes.”
There is £15,000 on the line for Hannah Botterman and her teammates this weekend. (Image: Photo by Charlotte Wilson/Offside/Offside via Getty Images)How much do the men get paid?
At the 2023 World Cup in France, the winners – South Africa – reportedly picked up £5million for winning the tournament. It has not been publicly disclosed how much of this figure went to the players (or whether any of it goes to them at all). This was a massive increase from 2019, which was around £300,000.
However, SA Rugby president Mark Alexander confirmed in 2023 that Springbok players would be getting win bonuses for their success. Despite what he says at the beginning of his quote, a plethora of online sources reported that there was £5million available to the winner.
“World Rugby does not give prize money for the trophy, but we have win bonuses we planned four years in advance and they are taken care of by that. Our players receive prize money which we plan for four years in advance,” he explained. Despite this, the bonuses were not explicitly revealed.
To provide some context, though, let’s look at France. Tipped as potential winners of the tournament they hosted two years ago, they were knocked out by eventual winners South Africa in a thrilling quarter-final contest.
If they made it to the final and won it, players would have pocketed around £174,000 each, so even though it would be reasonable to assume South African players would have received a similar figure, that is dependent on SA Rugby and the bonuses agreed four years prior. England players, on the other hand, bagged £100,000 each just to appear in the pool stages, which incrementally increased the further they advanced.