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<\/p>\nChelsea won the competition last season <\/p>\n
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The prize fund for this season\u2019s Women\u2019s FA Cup has been doubled to \u00a36m, the Football Association has announced.<\/p>\n
The FA board has approved a \u00a33m increase compared to last season, which means a prize pot of \u00a344,000 per match at the third-round stage, up from \u00a312,500 in the same round last season.<\/p>\n
Winning the final will now earn the victors \u00a3430,000 compared to \u00a3100,000 last season, the FA said.<\/p>\n
It is the second consecutive season in which the prize pot has increased, with last season\u2019s uplift focused on the money available at the earlier stages of the competition.<\/p>\n
The FA\u2019s director of women\u2019s football, Baroness Sue Campbell, said: \u201cDoubling the prize money showcases the FA\u2019s clear commitment to the future of the Women\u2019s FA Cup and will help us maintain its stature as the most prestigious domestic women\u2019s cup competition in the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019re delighted to be making a second successive increase to the prize fund, ensuring that as clubs progress through the competition they receive financial rewards that will empower them to invest in their own futures.<\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately, we want the women\u2019s competition to receive the same prize money as the men\u2019s, and this new increase is a positive step in the direction of achieving that long-term ambition.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Chelsea claimed the trophy last season but would earn \u00a3430k rather than \u00a3100k if they defend their crown<\/p>\n
The men\u2019s FA Cup prize fund for the current season was confirmed in June, with \u00a32m on offer for winning the final and \u00a31m for the losing finalists. Those teams would also benefit from payments for progressing through the earlier rounds.<\/p>\n
FA chief executive Mark Bullingham said last month that changes to the future format of the Women\u2019s FA Cup were being considered.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve done a really good job of growing the final as an event. When I first started working with the FA it was an event that got less than 20,000 and wasn\u2019t even at Wembley,\u201d Bullingham said at the Leaders Week conference at Twickenham in October.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re now selling out Wembley, and that\u2019s a big event for us in our calendar. So the final is going really well.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur challenge now is to grow the rest of the competition. Within that, we don\u2019t always feel that the women\u2019s competitions have to follow the format of the men\u2019s, so we\u2019re looking at how we could at least evaluate some potential changes that may be more creative and allow the competition to have its own structure and format.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we\u2019re evaluating those at the moment with the view to what would appeal to fans more, what would appeal to broadcasters more and how do we grow even more quickly?<\/p>\n
\u201cLike the rest of the women\u2019s game, we will grow it. It\u2019s just how do we accelerate it even faster?\u201d<\/p>\n