Scholz underpins the demand for equal bonus payments for female footballers
When visiting the new DFB campus, Olaf Scholz reiterated his demand for equal bonus payments for women soccer players. See the joint statement by the Federal Chancellor and DFB President Bernd Neuendorf here.
During the Women’s European Championship, Olaf Scholz initiated the topic of equal pay in football. Now the Federal Chancellor visited the new campus of the DFB. And discussed the topic with Oliver Bierhoff. The players are also concerned with other factors.
OLaf Scholz describes himself as a typical event fan. The Chancellor once admitted that he was “not a great football expert, but I am a football fan when it comes to big tournaments”. Above all, Scholz was enthusiastic about the women’s European Championship that had just ended in England – and prompted an advance that, depending on your point of view, can sound daring, naive or long overdue.
During a tour of the association’s new campus in Frankfurt/Main with those responsible for the German Football Association (DFB) and in a subsequent discussion on Tuesday, the SPD politician discussed the issue of pay in women’s and men’s football. Scholz said when he visited the European Championship final between Germany and England: “I am firmly convinced that equal pay plays an important role, especially when it comes to competitions like this.”
DFB Managing Director Oliver Bierhoff, who received the Chancellor with President Bernd Neuendorf and Vice President Celia Sasic on the association campus, was delighted with the exchange. It was a “great honor” that Scholz accepted his invitation, said Bierhoff. On the occasion, he could also “enlighten him a little better about the numbers”, said Bierhoff before the appointment.
With his message sent on Twitter during the EM with the hashtag #equalpay (equal pay), Scholz symbolically stung a wasp’s nest. “It’s 2022. Women and men should be paid equally,” wrote the 64-year-old: “That also applies to sport, especially for national teams (…).”
“I have to disagree with the Chancellor”
The reality is different. For the European title, the DFB women would have received 60,000 euros each, the men 400,000 euros a year earlier. National coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg would like the bonuses to be equalized, “perhaps at some point for the same title the same money,” as the 54-year-old said on “Bayern 1”. She did not agree with the demand for a generally equal payment: “I have to contradict the Federal Chancellor.”
During the Chancellor’s visit, Neuendorf announced a debate in the DFB about aligning the bonuses for the women’s national team with the payments for the men: “I am at least willing to talk to the representatives of the senior national teams in our committees about whether our bonus system, which has grown over decades, is still up to date (…) and whether it can also be adapted if necessary.”
However, it must also be “acknowledged that, despite the same activity, the markets are still very different”. After the tour, Scholz said: “I think it’s something political, so it makes sense to discuss the same bonuses.”
The DFB women each received EUR 30,000 for their second place after losing in the final at the legendary Wembley Stadium in London. There would have been 60,000 euros for the title. The men would each have received prize money of 400,000 euros if they triumphed at the 2021 European Championship.
Good mood during the Chancellor’s visit: DFB President Bernd Neuendorf with Olaf Scholz, DFB Vice President Celia Sasic and DFB Managing Director Oliver Bierhoff (from left)
Quelle: Getty Images/Alexander Scheuber
Skepticism is high in the consulting scene. “I struggle with equal pay. In my world, you get paid based on supply and demand,” Jörg Neblung, who advises 40 clients, told the “Münchner Merkur”. According to his professional colleague Felix Seidel, the topic is being dealt with with “too much populism” and he doesn’t know of “any German player who is screaming for the same pay as her male colleagues”.
The concrete demands of women’s football are different: visibility, equal opportunities, acceptance. Primetime kick-off times would be important steps. The introduction of basic salaries is also required. There are still female soccer players “who play in the Bundesliga and cannot even finance their livelihood with their salary,” said consultant Seidel.
So the footballers will be watching closely what Scholz’s visit to the DFB will bring in concrete terms.
