The Dutch women’s national football team will now receive the same salary as the men’s

This week, the Royal Football Association of the Netherlands (KNVB) announced that the national women’s national team is known as Leeuwinnenor lionesses – from July 1, 2022 will receive the same salaries as their male counterparts.

Reducing the pay gap between footballers and women

The gender pay gap is a problem in virtually all industries and jobs, including professional sports. In recent years, female athletes have been fighting for the same thing as male athletes, and these debates seem to have finally made an impact here in the Netherlands.

In a statement on the KNVB website, the association confirmed that female footballers will receive the same bonuses (i.e. the money players receive for rights to name, portrait and video) as male players. Due to the fact that the new agreement came into force on July 1, KNVB director Jan Dirk van der See called it a historic decision: “Orange lionesses have become an integral part of the Dutch football landscape. We want to emphasize this with this important step. “

Equal pay is an important step for the future of sport in the Netherlands

The Dutch national team is one of the best women’s football teams in the world, which has achieved great success in a number of recent international championships. At the 2020 Olympics, the team reached the quarterfinals, and at the 2019 Women’s World Cup took second place. In 2017 Leeuwinnen won their first-ever title after defeating Demarc in the European Women’s Championship final.

The team hopes that KNVB’s decision to officially recognize and reward the hard work and success of the Lionesses will be a turning point in women’s football. «[We’re taking] a big step together towards the same evaluation of both men and women who play for Orange, ”says Vivian Midema. “It’s also not only a great recognition for us as the current team – it’s an important social signal, and we also hope it opens the door for future Orange players.