KNVB and Orange Women proud of equal pay: ‘Historic milestone’

“Everything that the KNVB has under control is paid the same. It does not matter who you are,” Miedema explains. “We have girls who play football in the Netherlands who desperately need this money. We need this to take the next step. This will only allow us to grow as a team.”

Struggle begins

The first talks between the KNVB and the internationals were already held in 2017. “It was difficult in the beginning”, Van der Zee acknowledges. “We then had a lot of discussion about payment and agreed a trajectory. In 2019 we discussed it again and now we can finally say that we have equal payment for men and women.”

Van der Zee says that the original idea was to have it completed in 2023, but that has already been achieved a year earlier. However, the KNVB’s director of women’s football is of the opinion that it has still taken too long. “But some processes take time and the great thing is that we kept talking to each other.”

As far as Van der Zee is concerned, this is not the end point either. “Our appeal to UEFA and FIFA is that the tournament premiums must be increased. It is already going up, but really too slowly. In tennis, for example, the prize money for men and women is the same, that is also possible in football.”