Portuguese clubs have received around 291,000 euros in compensation for the transfer of players to teams participating in the 2023 Women’s World Cup, with Benfica making the largest contribution, FIFA said on Tuesday.
The four-time national champion received 107.9 thousand euros under the sports regulator’s preferential program, which is almost twice as much as the 55.8 thousand euros added by Sporting.
Next in line are also top-flight representatives Sporting Braga (27.9 thousand euros), Marítimo (22.4 thousand) and Ouriense (13.9 thousand), who recently moved to the second division, in the list of 48 Portuguese clubs, which are part of a total of 1041 clubs from 48 federations around the world.
FIFA allocated €12.3 million (ME) to “recognise the fundamental role of clubs in athlete development”, compared with €7.8 million (ME) for the 2019 World Cup in France.
“Strong clubs are essential for the development of women’s football. Therefore, distributing funding among more than 1,000 clubs is just one of the ways FIFA supports. What is truly unique is that FIFA rewards not only the clubs that produced women’s players, but also those who contributed to the development of each of them from 12 to 22 years old,” said the organization’s president, Italian-Swiss Gianni Infantino.
FIFA has increased the number of clubs eligible for support under the incentives programme, rising from 822 in 2019 to 1,041 in 2023, as it did at federation level, from 48 last year compared to 39 five years ago.
“This model ensures that funding reaches all parts of the global football ecosystem, benefiting grassroots and professional clubs,” Infantino added.
The number of days players played at the 2023 World Cup helped determine the compensation attributed to each emblem, as well as their contribution to athlete development, but the number of minutes accumulated by the respective teams was irrelevant.
In Australia and New Zealand, where they made their World Cup debut, Portugal were eliminated in the first stage, finishing third in Group E behind the Netherlands and the USA, then two-time champions who were later dethroned by Spain.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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