Bronze hits out at stand-off with FA as Lionesses arrive at WWC with NO bonuses

England fullback Lucy Bronze admitted being 'frustrated' after the Lionesses arrived at the Women's World Cup without reaching an agreement with the FA over performance related bonuses.

Sarina Wiegman's side are currently set to receive no additional bonuses from the Football Association on top of those paid by FIFA.

In a new pay-structure brought in after pressure from players' union Fifpro, FIFA will now award every player competing in the group stage $30,000 (£26,000).

The further teams progress, the higher the reward, with every player in the winning team pocketing $270,000.

This is the first time players will be directly compensated for their participation in the tournament and is thought to be higher than previous FA bonuses paid in previous years.

As Kathryn Batte has written, the Lionesses feel aggrieved because the FA portrays itself as a world-leading federation in the women's game, but is failing to match the United States and Australia - who are paying bonuses on top of FIFA's payments.

Bronze, who is among England's most experienced stars with 104 caps, admitted the situation was not ideal and felt it was important for players to pish for better terms.

'It is frustrating, but I think that's the way the women's game has predominantly been,' she said when asked about the bonus situation.

'As a team we've always been pushing in the background, it's only been recently that it's been made more public and people are more aware of it, but it's something we've always had to do as players.

'Someone like Steph Houghton, previously, is someone who did a lot of work behind the scenes that probably wasn't reported on and people didn't know as much about.

'I think we're in a similar situation now, and I think the point of the players, and everyone involved in women's football, is about taking it to the next level and pushing the ceiling, not wanting to have a ceiling put on our game, and making sure we leave the game in a better place than what we found it.'

Germany have followed a similar route to the FA and will not pay extra bonuses to players.

England arrive in Queensland as European champions, and will be hoping to build on last summer's success on football's biggest stage.

They completed open training in front of a 3,000-strong crowd on Sunday, as Sarina Wiegman's side gear up for an opening game against Haiti on July 22.

'It's like being at home,' Bronze said of the training session. because in England we get this kind of support for open training days.

'There's so many fans, you can interact and speak with them, which doesn't necessarily happen when you go halfway around the world.'

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