Equal pay: Wales' women's football team will earn the same as male players

The Football Association of Wales has announced that they've reached an agreement which will see the national men's and women's football teams paid equally.

The new deal will start with immediate effect and runs until 2027.

Wales now joins a growing list of other countries around the world including world champions the United States, Australia, Norway and Brazil who have publicly committed to paying their men and women football players the same amount for playing for their country's senior team.

England's men's and women's senior players have been paid the same match fee for representing their country for the past three years, while the Republic of Ireland agreed a similar deal in 2021.

What's happened?

Discussions over agreeing a new pay deal to give equal pay to both Wales squads have been going on for more than a year, with talks initially starting at the end of 2021.

In order to reach the deal, the Wales men's senior team agreed to a 25% pay cut to enable a 25% rise for the women's team - which now brings them both equal on pay.

The new deal will run for the next four years and covers tournaments up to and including the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2027 FIFA Women's World Cup.

In a joint statement, Wales' men's and women's teams said: "We hope that this will allow future generations of boys and girls to see that there is equality across Welsh international football, which is important for society as a whole.

However not all the home nations have equal pay agreements in place for both squads.

It was announced last month that Scotland women's national football team are taking action against the Scottish FA, after talks broke down over equal pay and conditions.