With three rounds of qualifiers done, teams as low down as Tier 7 have pocketed nearly £10,000, a larger sum than their annual budgets. This is what they're using it on...
Interesting to see what clubs are doing with their prize money & the difference it can and will make. When my daughter made her FA Cup debut in the first preliminary round in September 17 her tier 5 club were drawn against a county league club & I think the prize money was around £150 for winning. Indeed the cost of entering was a bar to many clubs doing so. The increase in prize money seems to have made entry worthwhile and clearly the FA introducing exemptions to the lower tiered clubs has given the first bite of the financial cherry to those at the bottom of the ladder. In 2017-18 I believe there were free than 300 entries while in 2023-24 there are more than 400. Hopefully progress will continue to be made at all levels and more girls will be able to thrive in our national game.
Interesting to see what clubs are doing with their prize money & the difference it can and will make. When my daughter made her FA Cup debut in the first preliminary round in September 17 her tier 5 club were drawn against a county league club & I think the prize money was around £150 for winning. Indeed the cost of entering was a bar to many clubs doing so. The increase in prize money seems to have made entry worthwhile and clearly the FA introducing exemptions to the lower tiered clubs has given the first bite of the financial cherry to those at the bottom of the ladder. In 2017-18 I believe there were free than 300 entries while in 2023-24 there are more than 400. Hopefully progress will continue to be made at all levels and more girls will be able to thrive in our national game.