Thu, September 04, 2025
Minimum salaries introduced in WSL and WSL2, along with other vital wellbeing support
After a consultation with the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) and 18 months of planning, Women’s Super League (WSL) and Women’s Super League 2 (WSL2) footballers will be given a minimum salary level. One of the aims is to ensure second-tier footballers in particular will not need to balance their sporting careers alongside a part-time job, Chief Operating Officer of WSL Holly Murdoch expressed.
WSL2 players still have to meet the fully professional criteria and so the WSL collaborated with the PFA to agree a minimum wage for these footballers too. This follows the WSL announcement in May that it was in talks with the PFA for second-tier players to be represented by the union, which was an unprecedented move.
Murdoch voiced: “I think we’ve come up with a floor that will have a meaningful impact for our players. We consulted with the PFA, they were a really important stakeholder on this, and this is something that has to remain under review constantly because the game is changing so quickly. We’ll analyse all the data off the back of this transfer window and updated salaries, and then we’ll review all of the policy around it again as the game grows.”
Murdoch has not revealed the minimum figure yet, but it will fluctuate depending on age groups and division. It should be a full-time wage, according to BBC Sport. The U.S. National Women’s Soccer League’s (NWSL) minimum wage is $48,500 which equates to £36,170.
Murdoch told The Guardian: “It’s not as easy as just saying: ‘Oh, it’s this amount of money a year,’ because there are different thresholds depending on your age group. It [was also about] making it a jump that was affordable. I think we’re all aware, women’s football is still financially fragile. We’re seeing wonderful growth and it’s such an exciting period, but we know that costs outweigh revenue short-term. We know the revenue opportunity in the women’s game is phenomenal, but we do need to be really thoughtful about not just loading costs into any business. We have to be adding value.”
Murdoch also announced: “We’re also putting more support around those players, so there will be a number of additional mandatory roles that will be rolled out – we’re introducing a [mandatory] performance wellbeing role within all of our clubs. Football traditionally hasn’t moved in that space, but we see the importance of supporting athletes.”
There is also a new collaboration with external company Kyniska Advocacy which works to constantly improve safeguarding standards for athletes, as reported by BBC Sport.
Furthermore, a multi-year partnership was agreed between the WSL and Nike. Nike will provide football boots and goalkeeper gloves to all footballers in the WSL and WSL2 who do not have an endorsement deal.
The NWSL has salary caps which the WSL currently does not. Murdoch voiced that this may be something that is considered in the future, but not for now: “We have no intent to kind of ‘cap’ any players’ earnings…
We’re at the investment stage of women’s football, so we don’t want to deter investment. We don’t want to put in rules that don’t make us an attractive investment. But we’re also really mindful that we have to have frameworks in place that protect our long-term future.”
The cap will likely allow clubs to spend up to 80% of their revenue, not including a capped contribution from owners, on salaries. Salaries were previously capped at 40%, but caps on owner contributions did not exist.
The WSL top tier is being increased from 12 to 14 clubs next summer as well, which will impact promotion and regulation.
Murdoch elaborated: “We wanted to increase movement within the pyramid because there has been a lack of movement in the pyramid over the last 10 years [and] a potential risk of stagnation, particularly in WSL2, that there were some clubs that had been sat kind of mid-table, never in the relegation zone, never going to be promoted, [and] that’s not good. We heard loud and clear what was really important to fans.”
