FOOTBALL CHIEFS pledged to give women’s sides an increase in FA Cup prize money after a fierce backlash from fans and club bosses.

The FA’s announcement comes ahead of fan-planned protests over the disparity in prize money offered to men’s and women’s sides battling for the trophy.

Emma Hayes, Carla Ward, Hope Powell and Rehanne Skinner are among the WSL bosses who have hit out at the gulf in cash prizes awarded to teams competing in the men’s and women’s contests.

Women’s FA Cup fourth-round winners currently earn £2,000.

This is just over two per cent of the £90,000 currently collected by men’s teams who triumph at this stage.

And men’s trophy winners collect £1.8million while Cup-winning women’s sides receive £25,000.  

Aston Villa chief Ward, whose team face Chelsea in a fourth-round duel today, slammed the imbalance, describing it ‘as disappointing’.

Before the FA’s announcement, Ward, 38, said: “We're not asking for equal pay because we know where the games are, commercially, and we're not quite there yet in terms of that.

“But when we're talking about prize money, that (decision) comes from the FA. That's something they can control.

“It needs a head wobble because the women's game is growing at a rapid rate. The visibility now is huge, but it seems that the prize money is not.”

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On Friday the Football Association announced plans to increase prize money for women’s clubs competing for the FA Cup from next term.

However, officials did not specify how much the increase – agreed by the authority’s board – would actually be.

In a statement an FA spokesperson said: “The Vitality Women’s FA Cup’s significant development over the last few years is just one example of this growth.

“Whilst the competition doesn’t yet drive commercial revenue to fund prize money growth, The FA Board has agreed a significant increase in prize money to support the competition’s continued development.

“More details are to be announced in due course and the additional prize money will come into effect from the 2022/23 season.”

The response from the sport's bosses comes in a week in which the Women’s Fan Collective called on supporters to protest at fourth-round matches.

Despite the FA’s move, the group says it wants fans to join planned chants in the 51st and 71st minutes of games today and tomorrow.

In a response published via its Twitter account, the group said: “We welcome the news of additional prize money and we will comment further once more details are released by the FA.

“Until then we will continue with our campaign and encourage every football supporter to join in with the chant.”

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Emma Hayes, who led Chelsea to three FA Cup wins including last year’s trophy, could be set to rotate her side following a busy week of three games in seven days.

Their away clash with Ward’s team could see the Blues come up against a side featuring Jill Scott and Rachel Corsie following their January transfer moves to Villa.

The Blues chief, 44, said: “Inevitably with the players who have played three in seven games, there are going to be some who might need recovery from that.”

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