Even though the National Women’s Football Team of Costa Rica has delivered an amazing performance at the CONCACAF qualifiers and earned a spot for next year’s FIFA World Cup in Canada, Las Ticas will not get a financial reward for their efforts. Such was the report by sports journalist Graciela Fonseca of online news daily CRHoy.com.

By advancing to the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup for the first time, Las Ticas are making history and elevating football in our country just like their male counterparts of La Sele did earlier this year at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Unlike La Sele, however, Las Ticas do not get a nice bonus. As per the Secretary of the Costa Rican Football Federation (Spanish acronym: FEDEFUTBOL) explained:

“FIFA only hands out awards to national men’s football teams. There may be an award for the female national team that wins the World Cup, but nothing is paid to the (24) participant teams for qualifying. Logistics such as lodging and meals are covered.”

FEDEFUTBOL has received a considerable amount of money over the last two years from FIFA for hosting the U-17 Women’s World Cup and for La Sele’s participation in Brazil earlier this year. These financial rewards are distributed among First Division clubs, FEDEFUTBOL and the players. Some benefits of this monetary incentive were recently seen at the match between Deportivo Saprissa and the Sporting Kansas City of the United States Major League Soccer; the home team hired 150 undercover security agents to patrol the seats of the Ricardo Saprissa Stadium and prevent acts of hooliganism. First Division clubs have also been able to expand their squads and include more foreign players and entice a couple of World Cup veterans to stay in Costa Rica.

Notwithstanding the aforementioned gender inequality and monetary snub by FIFA, football officials in Costa Rica intend to move forward with development of female teams. FEDEFUTBOL is already negotiating with foreign counterparts to schedule international friendly matches in Costa Rica and promote them for the purpose of keeping Las Ticas sharp before they fly to Canada next year. Ticket sales are guaranteed, especially since the U-17 girls were able to sell out stadiums when their World Cup was hosted in our country.