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FAIR PLAY

1 Brazil's football federation announced it will pay men and women the same amount for representing the national team, one of the few countries to make such a pledge. It means Brazil's little-known female players such as Marta, Formiga and Leticia Santos will receive the same fees and allowances as global superstars such as Neymar, Gabriel Jesus and Roberto Firmino. Australia, Norway and New Zealand were amongst the nations to previously decide to pay their men and women internationals the same amount. In March 2019, the US women's team, the current world champions, sued their federation for discrimination over pay and conditions. A judge dismissed their case but the team appealed.

2 Brazil's football federation said its decision was communicated to the women's team and their Swedish coach Pia Sundhage in March. "This is historic. Being a part of this is very special, I'm very grateful," said Sundhage, who also welcomed the news that for the first time a woman, Duda Luizelli, has been put in charge of coordinating the national women's team.

3 The measure will be applied to the national teams participating in the Olympic Games, as well as the next men's and women's World Cup tournaments. "It will be proportionally the same as what FIFA proposes for women, that is to say, there will be no more gender difference in remuneration between men and women," said Caboclo, the federation president.

4 The men's team is the most successful in football, having won the World Cup a record five times. They have also won their continental championship, the Copa America, nine times, most recently on home soil in 2019. But the women's team is also amongst the strongest in the game, having reached the World Cup final in 2007 and back-to-back Olympic finals in 2004 and 2008. The Brazilian football federation said later in a statement that equal pay was __12__ equality in football, the most popular sport in the country, which has 36 professional clubs. Last year, the Brazilian professional league also authorised equal prize money for women and men.

5 __13__, when it comes to club football, the gap in pay between men and women, not just in Brazil but all over the world, remains huge. The highest paid players in the women's game earn six-figure salaries, while male players such as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo take home sums more than 100 times greater.

batimes.com, 2020