Bloomberg Línea — Catalina Usme’s second half goal secured a 1-0 victory for Colombia over Jamaica on Tuesday, qualifying the South American country for its first-ever quarter-final appearance in the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
“After the goal went into the net, I had all sorts of emotions,” Usme said. “After all these years in women’s football, it’s such a beautiful moment that gives us the possibility to make history for our country. But we can go further. We came here to play seven finals.” Colombia, a team that didn’t even qualify for the 2019 tournament, played a physical and challenging match. Linda Caicedo, the team’s 18-year-old sensation who plays her club soccer for Real Madrid, constantly created opportunities and tested Jamaica’s defense, which hadn’t conceded a goal in the group stage.
The Colombian national team will face England in the quarter-finals on Saturday, August 12, at the Accor Stadium located in Olympic Park in Sydney. “We are dreaming big. We know we can achieve this. We can do it,” said the captain, who scored the only goal in the game on Tuesday, after receiving a long pass from Ana Guzmán and netting in the 52nd minute. They are now the only team from the Americas remaining in the tournament.
Who is Catalina Usme?
María Catalina Usme Pineda was born on December 25, 1989, in Antioquia, Colombia. The current forward for América de Cali made her debut in the women’s national team in 2006.
Her international career has seen her take part in the 2011 and 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cups, as well as the Olympic Games of 2012 and 2016. In 2018, she became Colombia’s all-time top scorer by netting four goals against the Uruguayan national team in the Women’s Copa América. In the 2020 Women’s Copa Libertadores, she was the competition’s top scorer. The following year, she was nominated as the world’s best player by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS), making her the first and only Colombian female footballer to be included in this list.
What is Usme’s salary?
Although the official salaries of the Colombian national team players are not public, an investigation by El Espectador revealed the differences between the men’s and women’s teams in Colombia.
Men receive an average of 2,000,000 Colombian pesos (US$493.82) in daily allowances when playing home games, and 2,800,000 pesos (US$691.40) when playing away, in addition to certain financial bonuses based on results. In the women’s team, the players receive an average salary ranging from 1.5 to 2.0 million pesos (US$370.39 to US$493.85) per month, which is what a male player earns in a call-up.
In Catalina Usme’s case, as one of the most accomplished and goal-scoring South American players, specialized sources estimate her net worth to be around US$5 million, which she has made throughout her career and through endorsement deals with brands like Adidas, Gatorade, and Homecenter Colombia.
Prize money is also up for grabs in this world tournament. The 736 players from the 32 teams qualified for the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand will each receive at least US$30,000, as announced by FIFA. The amount increases as the tournament progresses: US$60,000 for the round of 16, US$90,000 for the quarter-finalists, US$165,000 for the third-place match losers, US$180,000 for the third-place winners, US$195,000 for the runners-up, and US$270,000 for the champions.
However, despite the overall prize money increase in relation to the 2019 World Cup, on average, women players will earn only 25 cents for every dollar earned by men in their World Cup last year.