Malawi FA sets equal pay for women and male footballers

Malawi women's national team. Photo Credit: Football Association of Malawi

Malawi national women’s football team players will now be earning game bonuses and allowances at par with their male counterparts.

The Football Association of Malawi (FAM) executive committee made this major decision at its meeting in the capital, Lilongwe, over the weekend. FAM says its decision is meant to ensure equality and address pay disparities that used to reflect gender biases.

“The committee resolved that all national team player allowances and game bonuses for both men and women should be equal in the respective categories,” the association’s statement reads.

The FA says its decision is part of the broader agenda ‘critical to Transforming the Game of Football in Malawi.

Before the decision, senior national football team players used to pocket around $290 USD as a winning game bonus, twice their female counterparts. Despite the pay disparities, the women’s football team is seen as relatively successful, having won Southern Africa’s COSAFA Women’s Championship in 2023.

The Flames have never claimed such a title. The men’s team last earned silverware at the 1988 CECAFA Championship.