Women’s Asian Cup finalists Japan and Australia made renewed calls on Thursday to demand the same prize money as the men’s tournament in a direct challenge to the Asian Football Confederation and accused the governing body of “ignoring” previous requests.
Japan defeated hosts Australia 1–0 in the final in Sydney on March 21 in front of more than 74,000 fans, the largest crowd in the competition’s history.
It ended a tournament that made headlines around the world after seven players from Iran’s national team applied for asylum after being branded “traitors” at home for refusing to sing the national anthem. Two players remain in Australia.
The prize fund for last month’s Women’s Asian Cup was reported to be a massive US$1.8 million, equivalent to 2022, compared to US$14.8 million for the men’s equivalent.
In February, a report released by the world football federation FIFPro said that the event could generate up to 82.4 million US dollars in revenue.
A record 350,000 fans turned out in large numbers during the three weeks of the tournament.
