Women's World Cup 2019: USA's Megan Rapinoe says Fifa showing women's football 'lack of respect'

Megan Rapinoe has been critical of Fifa in the past, particularly in relation to the difference in prize money

United States captain Megan Rapinoe says she does not think women's football gets enough respect from Fifa.

The USA play the Netherlands on Sunday in the women's World Cup final in France.

However, the game in Lyon takes place on the same day as the Copa America and Gold Cup finals.

"It's a terrible idea to put everything on the same day. This is the World Cup final. This is like, cancel everything day," said Rapinoe.

She added: "The World Cup final is set so far in advance it is actually unbelievable.

"So no, I don't think that we feel the same level of respect, certainly that Fifa has for the men and just in general."

However, a Fifa spokesperson explained: "The scheduling of the different events has gone through a comprehensive consultancy process that has involved all key stakeholders and taken into account different aspects of both the women's and men's international match calendars.

"Fifa and the confederations have discussed the respective match schedules in general to minimise any potential timing clashes."

Rapinoe was also critical of the prize fund on offer for the Women's World Cup.

On Friday, Fifa president Gianni Infantino announced that the prize money for the 2023 Women's World Cup would increase to $60m (£48m).

However, with the prize money for the men's World Cup in Qatar in 2022 increasing to $440m (£350m), Rapinoe does not believe Fifa is doing enough to prevent the gap between the two games from growing.

"It certainly is not fair," she added. "They should double it now and then use that number to double it or quadruple it for the next time.

"That's what I mean when I talk about, do we feel respected?

"I'm not saying that the prize money should be $440m this time or next time around. I understand that for a lot of different reasons, the men's game is far financially advanced than the women's game.

"But if you really care about letting the gap grow, are you scheduling three finals on the same day?

"No, you're not. Are you letting federations have their teams play two games in the four years between each tournament? No, you're not.

"That's what I mean about the level of caring."