IWL: Total prize money is less than what fourth-place team wins in I-League

While the one-month long tournament, which involves all the national-team footballers, has slowly provided a platform for aspiring female football players, the question remains will this tournament alone would suffice to aspire young girls to take up football in India?

The Indian men's football league system consists of three divisions — Indian Super League (ISL), I-league and I-League 2nd Division, women only have this one semi-professional club tournament, which is far from reaching the treatment men's football gets in the country.

What is starkly different is the pay gap and the prize money that creates a huge chasm between the two genders who play domestic football in India.

To put things into perspective, the All India Football Federation (AIFF), which is the governing body of football in India, has set the prize money of Indian Women's League winners even lower than the fourth-placed team in India's second-tier football tournament the I-League.

If one compares the prize money gap between ISL, I-League and IWL, the figure stands something like this:

Besides, the prize money, the meagre salary of the women footballers, compared to their male counterparts has always been seen as a major impediment for more women from taking up this sport.

Time and again, Indian women footballers have spoken up about the plight of their fellow players and asked the corporate sector to chip in by sponsoring more clubs and tournaments. Last year, one of India's most successful women footballers and the only one to be honoured with the Padma Shri award, Oinam Bembem Devi, had spoken up about the financial woes women footballers face despite playing a prime tournament like the IWL.

"Women players do not get good money while playing for a club in the IWL. The club will always tell the players to take less amount of money, say Rs 50,000 or Rs 60,000. This amount is peanuts actually," she had said in an interview conducted by PTI.

The Bridge tried to reach out to an IWL league official for comments but did not get any response.

While an ISL player earns an average salary of Rs 50-60 lakh a year, with the top-rated players earning crores, girls even struggle to earn Rs 1 lakh a year. Captain of the Indian women's football team Ashalata Devi had said "Indian football clubs treat female players like vegetables. Many players don't even get Rs 1 lakh in a season. The girls do equal hard work as the male players but where is the reward?" she said.

Interestingly, as per AIFF's audited financial report of 2019-20, the entire budget that is spent on organising the IWL and the Women's National Football Championships in India for girls across age groups combined is less than the ISL shield winner's prize money. The total budget for hosting the IWL (Rs 1.36 crore) and NFC (Rs 1.49 crore) in 2019 summed up to Rs 2.85 crore, compared to the ISL shield winner's prize worth Rs 3.5 crore.

Furthermore, the qualification process in IWL is still a mess. No team can enter the IWL directly and must first compete in their state leagues. Interestingly, the time of these state leagues coincides with the dates of the IWL. While 8 teams get direct entry after winning their respective state's qualifying league, the other two teams have to compete in a second qualifying round or 'playoff' round. Nobody knows where the last two teams are coming from. There hasn't been any confirmation from the AIFF and no one, not even the concerned clubs, seems to be bothered about it.

Indian Football is yet to have the right professional approach for women's football in the country. The developments that are still basic, only tick the boxes while providing unpaid salaries, and lesser game time for players in a league that last for a month.