ICC offers equal prize money for men and women cricketers in World Cups

Hyderabad: In a path breaking move, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced that the prize money offered at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 will be on par with what the male cricketers had got during the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 in June this year.

India, the winners of the men’s edition of the T20 World Cup 2024, were awarded USD 2.45 million as the prize.

The ICC, on Tuesday, announced that the winners of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup will receive a prize money of USD 2.34 million, just a shade lesser than their men counterparts. However, the prize money is a whopping increase of 134% from what the last edition – USD 1 million – winners got.

Australia are the defending champions, having won the title in South Africa in 2023.

The ICC, in a statement, said the upcoming World Cup is the marks a significant milestone in the sport’s history. “The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 will be the first ICC event where women will receive the same prize money as their male counterparts, marking a significant milestone in the sport’s history,” the statement read.

While the winners get USD 2.34 million, the runners-up will be taking home a prize money of UD 1.17 million – a 134% increase again. The previous edition’s runners-up, South Africa, received a prize money of USD 500,000.

The losing semi-finalists will get USD 675,000 while every win in the group stages will reward the teams with a prize money of USD 31,154.

The total prize money pool for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 is USD 7,958,080. The total prize money records a massive increase of 225% from the previous edition’s pool of USD 2.45 million.

The ICC added that the decision to restore parity in the prize money in the men’s and women’s World Cups was decided at the ICC Annual Conference. “The decision was taken at the ICC Annual Conference in July 2023, when the ICC Board took the step of reaching its prize money equity target seven years ahead of its schedule of 2030, making cricket the only major team sport to have equal prize money for its men’s and women’s World Cup events,” the statement further read.

The ICC added that the move is in line with ICC’s ambition of growing the women’s game by the next decade. “This move is in line with the ICC’s strategy to prioritise the women’s game and accelerate its growth by 2032. Teams will now receive equal prize money for the equivalent finishing position at comparable events as well as the same amount for winning a match at those events,” the ICC statement added.