By Chris Robertson, news reporter
Megan Rapinoe, one the of the stand out football stars from the Women's World Cup, has hit out at FIFA for disrespecting the women's game on the eve of the tournament's final.
Speaking ahead of her appearance at the World Cup final on Sunday, the USA co-captain said FIFA's decision to schedule three major international games on the same day was disrespectful.
As well as Sunday's eagerly anticipated final between the USA and the Netherlands in Lyon, the finals of the Copa America and the Gold Cup, which will feature the USA men's team, will take place on the same day.
Talking about the issue, Rapinoe said: "It's terrible scheduling, don't you guys feel disrespected?
"It is a terrible idea to put all three on the same day in every way. There are two other finals going on but this is the World Cup final, 'cancel everything day'.
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"I don't know how that happened and I heard somewhere they just didn't think about it, which is the problem. When the World Cup is set so far in advance it's unbelievable. We don't feel the same level of respect that FIFA has for the men or just in general".
She also addressed the gap in prize money between the men's and women's world cup.
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Head of FIFA Gianni Infantino announced on Friday that the prize money for the women's tournament would be doubled from $30m to $60m (£26.7m – £53.4m) for the next tournament.
He added that he also wanted to increase the number of teams from 24 to 32 teams.
This means the gap between the tournament's is still increasing, with the men's prize pot rising to $440m (£391.8m) for the 2022 competition – a rise of $40m (£35.6m) since 2018.
Rapinoe said: "It's certainly not fair.
"Double it now and use that number to double it or quadruple it for the next time.
"That is what I mean when we talk about whether we feel respected. Earlier in the year, I read FIFA doesn't care about the women's game.
"If you really care about the game in the same way, why are you letting the gap grow?"
She added: "Are you scheduling three finals on the same day? No, you're not.
"Are you letting federations have their teams play two games in the four years between each tournament? No, you're not.
Sky News
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