UEFA (Union of European Football Associations), like so many other international sporting bodies was created in Switzerland following discussions between the Belgian, French and Italian Associations in 1954.

A total of 31 Associations are credited as being founder members and since then this has grown to more than 50 European countries following the break up of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia.

Working on the concept, ‘the more the merrier’, UEFA has let in minnows such as Gibraltar and San Marino and has created a number of money making competitions so that every member Association has a chance to hit the big time.

UEFA to sink even more money in women’s football in 2025

Initially, it was all about the men, but now the growth of interest in women’s football has given UEFA a reason to push the promotion of the female teams as well and it has announced that for the UEFA Women’s EURO 2025 competition it will increase the prize money to €41 million, more than double that made available for the 2022 competition which England won.

Participating national associations will now also distribute a guaranteed percentage of the rewards (between 30 and 40 per cent) to their players for the first time .

Clubs and players will also benefit from the money being made available to women’s football by UEFA

Club benefit payments will increase to €6 million, compensating European clubs that release players for the tournament , making it the highest club benefit programme for women’s football worldwide.

The increased rewards reflect UEFA’s continued commitment to the growth of women’s football across Europe, with €1 billion committed to the development of the game between 2024 and 2030 .

There is also to be a newly created second women’s club competition, the UEFA Women’s European Cup which will launch in the 2025/26 season and will give more teams the chance to test themselves against continental rivals, in a two-legged knockout format.

Although there isn’t as much money to be made in women’s football as there is in men’s, UEFA is astute enough to continue to promote the growth of women’s football for the future.