News stations were reporting that Olivia Smith broke the £1m barrier after signing a contract with Arsenal’s womens team. In men’s football, this sum is peanuts. It shows the gap, no the gulf between either games. In 1979 the English club Nottingham Forest, then managed by Brian Clough, paid more than £1m to sign Trevor Francis from Birmingham City.

The figure one million is immense: many people will earn one million in their entire working life. The current British annual income in 2025 on average is £37.430, which make £374.000 after ten years, not including increases due to inflation and contractual increases. That is one side of the coin.

The other is that it took almost fifty years for the women to catch up. In England, for example, the game was outlawed for most part of the 20th century; only an order by UEFA forced the men’s FA to end its restrictions on the women’s game in 1971. However, a lack of funds and above all, of willingness stunted the growth of women’s football not only in the UK, but globally.

Olivia Smith’s #BarclaysWSL goals are officially

Here’s a taste of her best so far… pic.twitter.com/GvjTkJ3nVj

— Barclays Women's Super League (@BarclaysWSL) July 17, 2025

The game in 2025 find itself in robust health: attendances are increasing, the play is excellent and still improving. Yet, as in real live, the women are less paid than their male counterparts./p>
„The inch between us becomes light years now“

This verse by Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, if inversed, describes the situation of the women’s game quite succinctly: the light year has become smaller by an inch. Only.

The transfer set a new world record. Her former club, Liverpool, signed her for £250.000 from Sporting CP only last year. It was a record fee for the club then and the increase within a year signifies a very good return of investment for Liverpool.