{"id":75924,"date":"2025-08-18T17:21:06","date_gmt":"2025-08-18T17:21:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/75924\/"},"modified":"2025-08-18T17:21:06","modified_gmt":"2025-08-18T17:21:06","slug":"womens-rugby-world-cups-brutal-reality-samoa-players-fundraising-costs-womens-rugby-world-cup-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/75924\/","title":{"rendered":"Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup\u2019s brutal reality: Samoa players fundraising costs | Women’s Rugby World Cup 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup will make a glitzy start<\/a> on Friday night in front of a global TV audience, but a Guardian survey of the 16 competing nations has discovered the brutal financial reality for many athletes taking part.<\/p>\n

Half of the 32-strong Samoa squad are raising funds to cover the costs of their mortgages and household bills while taking part in the tournament in England, according to one of their players, Nina Foaese, a 36-year-old mother of three.<\/p>\n

World Rugby covers the costs of flights and accommodation for all teams during the competition and, while Samoa are giving players allowances throughout the tournament, they do not have player contracts in place.<\/p>\n

Foaese, who works as a support youth worker outside of rugby, said: \u201cIt was overwhelming, I didn\u2019t expect the donations I have received. I was truly grateful and surprised about how much people wanted to sponsor me because I have never done something like this before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Samoa\u2019s Nina Foaese crashes into the Japan defence during their WXV 2 match in Cape Town in 2023. Photograph: Johan Rynners\/World Rugby\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Foaese said fundraising came into her mind as soon as she heard of her selection for the World Cup. \u201cOur team had spoken about what everyone was going to do to help support ourselves individually. I wasn\u2019t sure if I wanted to do it, but [someone said] you might need help living-wise and to make sure the kids were sorted while I was away.\u201d<\/p>\n

The financial reality among the other competing nations presented a mixed picture. The four home nations all have player contracts in place. England\u2019s 32 deals range from \u00a339,000 to \u00a348,000 and players receive \u00a31,500 per match. Wales pay \u00a323,000 to \u00a330,000 for 37 players and Scotland \u00a318,000 to \u00a327,000. Ireland have 37 contracts in the region of \u00a315,000 to \u00a330,000.<\/p>\n

New Zealand, the defending champions, have 45 full-time contracts, which vary from NZ$50,000 to $70,000 (approx \u00a321,900-\u00a330,600). The Black Ferns players also receive $2,000 (\u00a3876) per week in assembly fees during tournaments and other benefits such as life and trauma insurance.<\/p>\n

Canada, who are among the favourites, do not have fixed contracts, but pay their players per tournament and have equal pay with the men\u2019s team. A Canadian competing in all competitions this year would expect to receive CAN$12,000 (approx \u00a36,400).<\/p>\n

Australia have 46 contracts, which range from AUS$15,000 to $70,000 (\u00a37,200- \u00a333,600) and players are paid per day in camp so that, if they are selected for all squads, they can boost their earnings by AUS$15,000.<\/p>\n

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Brazil players dance during their Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup welcome ceremony at Northampton Guildhall. Photograph: Eddie Keogh\/World Rugby\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

USA have contracted 38 players from April to the end of September and South Africa have 52 contracts. Brazil\u2019s team of 32 all have contracts, but in different variations including sevens deals and contracts until after the Rugby World Cup. Some are also paid by a professional Brazilian club, Melina.<\/p>\n

Italy have 25 contracts with 17 on a full-time basis worth \u00a320,000 each. Four part-timers earn \u00a315,000 and four are on scholarships worth \u00a39,000.<\/p>\n

Japan are in a similar situation to Samoa with no player contracts, but do provide daily allowances for players. There is a win bonus system for the tournament too.<\/p>\n

Spain, France and Fiji were contacted for information but did not reply to requests. It is understood that 32 Spanish players have been given short-term bursaries to support the team financially at the tournament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Women\u2019s Rugby World Cup will make a glitzy start on Friday night in front of a global…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":75925,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-75924","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}