Women’s Asian Cup finalists accuse governing body over equal money | Football News

Girls’s Asian Cup finalists Japan and Australia have renewed requires equal prize cash with the lads’s match in a direct problem to the Asian Soccer Confederation and accused the governing physique of “ignoring” earlier requests.

Japan beat hosts Australia 1-0 in the final in Sydney on March 21 in entrance of greater than 74,000 followers, the most important crowd within the competitors’s historical past.

It concluded a match which made international headlines after seven members of the Iran squad sought asylum after being branded “traitors” at residence for refusing to sing the nationwide anthem. Two Iranian gamers stay in Australia.

The prize fund for final month’s Girls’s Asian Cup was extensively reported to be $1.8m, the identical as in 2022, in contrast with the $14.8m on provide on the males’s equal.

In February, a report issued by the worldwide footballers’ union FIFPRO mentioned the occasion might generate as much as $82.4m in income.

A file 350,000 followers got here by means of the turnstiles through the three weeks of the match.

In a joint assertion launched by FIFPRO on Thursday, the Japan and Australia groups mentioned: “Regardless of the success of this match it stays the lowest-paying continental match on the earth and inequality between the lads’s and girls’s sport stays.

“Our pre-tournament invitation to the AFC to work collectively on equal prize cash, a assured share to all gamers, and to co-develop an enduring legacy has thus far been ignored.

“Equal prize cash could be transformational for all gamers and soccer communities throughout Asia.

“Equal prize cash would assist to lift requirements in any respect ranges of the sport throughout our area.

“Equality advantages gamers within the quick time period, however soccer in the long run.”

The assertion mentioned that the match “was performed towards a backdrop of actual challenges that the AFC and the gamers must work in partnership to handle”.

It highlighted the plight of the Iranian group and the way India’s gamers had been left with kits that didn’t match correctly.

South Korea’s squad had threatened to boycott the 12-team match within the build-up over “poor” therapy by the nationwide federation in contrast with their male counterparts.

“These challenges can solely be tackled collectively in partnership,” the assertion added.

“As we glance ahead, we count on FIFA to honour its pledge of equal prize cash for the 2027 FIFA Girls’s World Cup and we are going to proceed to battle for equality and respect for girls gamers throughout our area.”

AFP has contacted the Kuala Lumpur-based AFC for remark.

Japan sack Nielsen regardless of Asian Cup win

In an additional transfer on Thursday, Japan abruptly axed Nils Nielsen as coach simply 12 days after taking them to Girls’s Asian Cup glory, with soccer chiefs accusing him of being “lax” and “missing ardour”.

Greenlander Nielsen led a rampant Japan to their third Asian title in 4 tournaments with the win towards Australia.

The 54-year-old had been within the job since December 2024 and was the primary foreign-born coach of the Japan girls’s group.

The Japan Soccer Affiliation (JFA) mentioned Nielsen’s contract expired after the Asian Cup and the board of administrators had determined to not provide him a brand new one.

“Occupied with profitable main worldwide tournaments and weighing up numerous elements, we got here to this conclusion,” mentioned JFA president Tsuneyasu Miyamoto.

Japan gained plaudits for his or her performances on the Asian Cup, the place they scored 29 objectives and conceded only one.

Nielsen described his group as “inspirational” and mentioned he was “very fortunate to be working with gamers which might be that good”.

There was no indication on the time that he would quickly depart.

Girls’s nationwide group director Norio Sasaki mentioned Japan couldn’t win subsequent yr’s World Cup in Brazil if Nielsen remained in cost.

“His teaching was just a little too lax, just a little too comfortable. A extra rigorous strategy and rigorous coaching is important,” mentioned Sasaki, who coached Japan to the World Cup crown in 2011.

Sasaki mentioned Nielsen had “a delicate character” and was not robust sufficient to win main international titles.

“From chatting with him about what he might do to take the group to the subsequent degree, there was a way that he lacked ardour,” he mentioned.

Japan are scheduled to play three away friendlies towards america in April.

Michihisa Kano will take over as interim coach for the tour.

Sasaki mentioned that the subsequent full-time coach would possible be Japanese.

Nielsen beforehand coached Denmark and Switzerland’s girls’s groups and served as technical director of Manchester Metropolis’s girls’s facet.