Match Highlights: Prize money: Cricket makes progress towards gender parity, biggest gap in football – Key Moments

The difference in the prize money handed out in men’s and women’s football remains stark.

The 2019 Women’s World Cup was the most watched edition of the tournament in history but, despite its projected overall total audience reach of 1.12bn people being a third of the 2018 men’s World Cup, its prize fund was more than nine times less.

The US women’s national team won $4m (£2.8m), compared to France men’s 2018 windfall of $38m (£27.2m). The women’s prize money was double that of the previous tournament in 2015, and Fifa has said it will double again for the 2023 edition.

Fifa told BBC Sport it had a “long-term vision for the development of women’s football at all levels around the world and is investing to this end”.

In the Champions League, Uefa has decreased the prize money earned by the women’s winners from 250,000 euros (£215,966) in 2019, to 150,000 euros (£129,600) in 2020 and 2021, while the men’s prize fund has remained level at 19m euros (£16.4m).

Uefa told the BBC that prize money for earlier rounds in the competition has increased, so the winner receives more than in previous seasons.

In the FA Cup, the winning men’s club in the 2020-21 season will earn £1.8m, while the women’s winners will pocket £25,000.

“While we recognise there is currently a significant disparity between prize money for men’s and women’s competitions, these are determined by the amounts of money generated through commercial revenue, including national and international broadcast rights,” an FA spokesperson told BBC Sport.

“The [men’s] FA Cup is the biggest revenue producer for the FA. This revenue enables us to invest back into football at all levels and we have made significant progress to develop the women’s game as a result.”

Disparities also remain in golf. Female golfers are among the highest earners in elite sport but still earn considerably less than their male counterparts at majors.

At June’s US Open, men will have the chance to win $2.25m (£1.6m), whereas the top prize for the US Women’s Open that month stands at $1m (£716,605). In 2014, the difference between these two figures was less – $900,000.

At the 2019 Open, Shane Lowry won £1.9m, while Sophia Popov, the winner of the AIG Women’s Open in 2020 – the men’s event was cancelled because of coronavirus – was awarded $675,000 (£483,924).

While figures for the 2021 tournaments have not yet been released, a spokeswoman for the R&A, which organises The Open and AIG Women’s Open, said its “stated aim” is to close the prize money differential.

She said: “We have been able to make substantial progress in that regard and are working hard to build the commercial effectiveness of the championship to increase revenues and support further investment in future.

“We fully recognise that we have much more to do but we can’t do it alone. We all have to play our part in growing the commercial success of women’s golf at the highest level and that means everyone from golf bodies to sponsors and the media.”

Craig Annis, the USGA’s chief brand officer, said the organisation is “committed to gender equality in golf”.

“The US Women’s Open is the leader in purse in all of women’s golf, which requires disproportional investments into the championship compared to revenue generated,” he said.

“We will continue to make investments that ensure the US Women’s Open remains the premier event in women’s golf through its purse, broadcast, host sites and player experience, as we drive toward the ultimate goal of purse parity.”

However, a sign that golf is changing is the the new ISPS Handa World Invitational event. Co-sanctioned by the men’s and women’s European Tours and LPGA, it will feature separate men’s and women’s tournaments in July, each with equal fields competing for equal prize money.