There has been much discussion recently of the England women’s football team asking for a pay increase.  Previously their salaries were set at are set at £16,000, which pales in comparison to the astronomical fees earned in the men’s game.

The money they earned meant that most players supplemented their income with jobs, ranging from care worker to lawyer.

The Professional Footballers Association represented them in their negotiations, with chief Gordon Taylor calling the previous package “embarrassing”.  In an interview with BBC sport recently, England defender Sophie Bradley said that if players earned more money, they would be able to focus on training without the distractions or stress of work.

She went on to say that: “The women [in the England team] don’t get paid even half as much, even a quarter as much as the men’s team,” Bradley said. “We are expected to have a part-time job and even though I live at home, for others with a mortgage, the cost of living is expensive.

“It’s really hard so it would be nice to play football full-time. The amount of work we put in, I wouldn’t say we get the reward in terms of money.”

Bradley added: “All the girls just grin and bear it. We get on with it because we get paid more now than a couple of years ago. Back then we didn’t even get a central contract.

“But now it’s the next step and time to ask for a bit more to be able to be full-time professional players, to not have to work as much, and just focus on playing football and winning things as a country and at your club.”

The team say they are satisfied with the deal, with their central contracts rising from £16,000 to £20,000 a year, and the part-time hours they are permitted to work goes from 18 to 24 per week.

The new package is set to be confirmed in the next few days.