FIFA Women's World Cup: 29% players unpaid during qualifiers as per FIFPRO

362 players were surveyed ahead of the upcoming tournament

There are some alarming qualifier-related developments as the FIFA Women's World Cup approaches in just one month. 362 female players who competed in the World Cup qualifying matches were polled by FIFPRO. 29% of participants in the qualification games were not paid, according to the poll.

In addition, only 40% of participants identified themselves as professional footballers. Two-thirds of the players had to take leave or unpaid leave in order to participate in qualifying.

The medical condition was also put into question after the survey. It was found that 54 per cent of players did not receive any medical examination pre-tournament and 70 per cent did not receive heart monitoring. Also, 39 per cent of women did not have access to mental health support.

FIFPRO women's football lead Sarah Gregorius said, "Any stat below 100% in access to important medical checks is unacceptable."

She added, "We just want to work with whoever wants to work with us, particularly Fifa and the confederations, to understand why that is the case and how that can be prevented because that is certainly not something that should be acceptable to anybody."

Another issue that came out from the survey was that 21 per cent of women said the practice pitches were not good enough. 32 per cent reported issues with the match day pitches. A total of 70% were unhappy with the gym facilities, while 66% of women said that the recovery facilities were not of an elite standard.

Other than this, the organisation has also criticised the qualification process of the tournament. UEFA was the only association that organised a World Cup qualification tournament. Teams played up to 12 games. No other qualification tournament saw more than seven matches.

In the Conmebol (South American) confederation, qualification matches for the World Cup, Olympics and Pan-American Games were all played in the same month.