Dubai. Taking an important decision, the International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Tuesday that now men and women will be given equal prize money in the World Cup, starting with the Women’s T20 World Cup to be held in the United Arab Emirates next month. The total prize money of the Women’s T20 World Cup will now be $ 7,958,080, which is 225 percent more than the total amount of $ 24 lakh 50 thousand played in the tournament played last year.
According to the ICC statement, out of this prize money, the team that wins the Women’s T20 World Cup will now get 23 lakh 40 thousand US dollars. Australia received a prize money of 1 million US dollars for winning the Women’s T20 World Cup played in South Africa last year. In this way, there has been an increase of 134 percent. The Indian men’s team received a prize money of 24 lakh 50 thousand US dollars for winning the T20 World Cup played in America and West Indies this year.
The ICC said, “The ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2024 will be the first ICC tournament in which women will get equal prize money as men, which will be a significant achievement in the history of this sport.” According to the statement, “This decision was taken at the ICC Annual Conference in July 2023 when the ICC Board decided to equalize the prize money seven years before its pre-determined 2030 schedule. In this way cricket has become the first major sport in which the World Cup has equal prize money for men and women.” The runner-up team of the tournament to be held next month will get a prize money of 11 lakh 70 thousand dollars. Last year’s runner-up South Africa’s team got five lakh dollars. In this way, there has been an increase of 134 percent in this too.
The losing semi-final teams will now receive $675,000 (up from $210,000 in 2023).
Teams will get $31,154 for each win during the group stage, while the six teams that fail to reach the semi-finals will get prize money from a total of $13,50,000 based on their final position. The ICC said, “This step is in line with the ICC’s plan to prioritize women’s sports and advance it rapidly till 2032.” The Women’s T20 World Cup will be played from October 3 to 20 at two venues in the United Arab Emirates, Dubai and Sharjah. The group stage matches will be completed by October 15. The semi-finals will be played on October 17 and 18 while the final will be held on October 20.