FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - UEFA Women's Euro 2025 - Group D - France v England - Stadion Letzigrund, Zurich, Switzerland - July 5, 2025 England's Jessica Carter and Lauren Hemp look dejected after the match REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/File Photo
ZURICH (Reuters) -England forward Lauren Hemp has praised the expected record-shattering one-million-pounds ($1.35 million) transfer of Olivia Smith, saying it highlights the growth of the women's game.
Arsenal have tabled that offer for Liverpool forward Olivia Smith, according to British media, which would make the 20-year-old Canadian the first female to reach the seven-figure barrier.
It would eclipse the 900,000 pounds fee Chelsea paid to sign Naomi Girma from the San Diego Wave in January.
"It's the direction the women's game is going in, and it's great to see," Hemp said from England's base camp at Euro 2025. "It's proof that women's footballers are great, and that is the way the game is going, so long may that continue."
European champions England can clinch their place in the quarter-finals with a win over debutants Wales on Sunday.
While Hemp said the huge fee was worth applauding, it remains miles off the record in men's football of 200 million pounds for Neymar's transfer from Barcelona to Paris Saint-Germain in August 2017.
While professionalism in women's football is on the rise, and the game's fan base continues to grow -- the European Championship that runs through July 27 is drawing record crowds -- FIFA recently reported a wide discrepancy in pay, contracts and attendance across women's football globally.
The average annual salary for a female professional soccer player globally is only $10,900, FIFA said in March in their annual report on the women's game, a figure skewed by a small number of top clubs.
Among the teams FIFA designated as Tier 1 in their report, the average salary was around $24,030, although 16 of those top clubs paid an average gross salary of over $50,000, with the highest of those salaries approximately $120,000.
($1 = 0.7408 pounds)
(Reporting by Lori Ewing; Editing by Ken Ferris)
