On Monday, October 30, the Ballon d’Or ceremony was held, organized by France Football, in which the Argentine star Lionel Messi won his eighth award, and the Spanish Aitana Bonmatí was crowned the best female player today.
(Read also: Unforgettable gala: Linda Caicedo took a photo with Lionel Messi).
2023 marks, then, the third consecutive year in which a Spanish player takes the awardtaking into account that FC Barcelona midfielder Alexia Putellas took the trophy in 2021 and 2022.
However, Criticism continues to rain on the Spanish Federation for the low minimum wage they have for the soccer players in their country. This added, of course, to the controversy between the former president of the Federation, Luis Rubiales, and the player Jenni Hermoso, after Spain lifted the World Cup.
(Related: Linda Caicedo received a sensational gift from a Real Madrid sponsor).
According to reports from the Spanish sports media ‘Marca’, the current minimum salary for League F players is 21,000 euros (approximately $91,000,000 COP) per year, an astronomically lower number than menwho earn at least 155,000 euros (approximately $675,000,000 COP).
And this is not the worst case scenario, since in 2020 it had been established that the minimum would be 16,000 euros (approximately $70,000,000 COP) annually, but the players’ strike that stopped the first day of the season forced the managers to raise the figure, promising that for the 2025-26 season, they will earn at least 23,500 euros (approximately $102,000,000 COP).
It should be remembered, however, that This is not the case for all players, and that larger clubs such as Atlético de Madrid, Real Madrid and Barcelona have much larger salary structures..
According to ‘Relevo’, salaries at Real Madrid Femenino, for example, range from 30,000 to 130,000 euros (approximately between $130,000,000 COP and $566,000,000 COP). At Barcelona, on the other hand, contracts rise to much higher figures, and according to data published by the newspaper ‘Ara’, Alexia Putellas earns around 800,000 euros (almost $3,500,000,000 COP) per season.
(You may be interested: Ramón Jesurún sparks controversy when talking about women’s football: ‘There is little support’).
It is also important to clarify that Women’s football in Spain has grown surprisingly in recent years. In addition to the quality translated into titles, seats in stadiums are now sold out and clubs dedicate a greater part of the budget to their women’s squads.
However, It is still paradoxical that the gender that is giving the country the most titles and international recognition has a minimum wage almost eight times lower than that of men..
ALEJANDRO VICTORIA TOBÓN
DIGITAL SCOPE EDITORIAL
TIME
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