Dubai, Sep 17 (IANS): The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday announced that the 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 winners of the tournament, which will now be staged in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), will receive USD 2.34 million, a 134 per cent increase on the USD 1 million awarded to Australia when they clinched the title in South Africa in 2023.
The two losing semi-finalists will earn USD 6,75,000 (up from USD 2,10,000 in 2023), with the overall prize pot totalling USD 79,58,080, a massive increase of 225 per cent from last year’s total fund of USD 2.45 million.
"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 ICC said in a statement.
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 Men's T20 World Cup 2024 event prize money is only higher on account of 10 additional teams participating and 32 more matches played.
Each win during the group stages will see teams take home USD 31,154 while the six teams who fail to reach the semi-finals will share a pool of USD 1.35 million depending on their finishing positions.
In comparison, the equivalent pool for the six teams in 2023 was USD 1,80,000, shared equally. Teams who finish third or fourth in their group will take USD 2,70,000 each while the teams who finish fifth in their group will both receive USD 1,35,000. All 10 participating teams are assured of USD 1,12,500.
The increase in prize money for the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 comes in line with the prize pot for the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2022 also increasing to USD 3.5 million in total.
The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 will open on October 3 with Bangladesh taking on Scotland at Sharjah Cricket Stadium. There has been a minor change to the match order for the doubleheader on October 5 in Sharjah, with Australia now facing Sri Lanka in the afternoon at 14h00 (local time), followed by the Bangladesh versus England match taking the evening slot at 18h00. Ten teams will play 23 matches in Dubai and Sharjah to decide the 2024 champions.