At the time the case ended, a handful of voices argued that the players should boycott the tournament. However well meaning they might have been, such calls came from those with little understanding of what it’s like to be a world-class athlete who’s spent years fighting for an opportunity to participate in her sport’s preeminent event. The World Cup is played once every four years and, for many of the players, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. What’s worse than competing for a World Cup title on artificial turf? Not competing at all.

There’s simply no justification for forcing women to play on a subpar surface when no World Cup in history—either a men’s or women’s contest—has ever used the material. Prior play can’t account for the disparate treatment. Sports fans are increasingly seeing women’s World Cup players for what they are: elite, exciting athletes and national representatives first and foremost. Put another way, they’re viewed much as male footballers are. And so, with a plethora of stars, compelling storylines—can the U.S. win its first World Cup since 1999? How far can Marta carry Brazil? Can anyone score on German netminder Nadine Angerer?—plus ever-growing interest, FIFA and Canada had a unique and valuable asset in the tournament.

With the World Cup’s end, Sepp Blatter’s reign as FIFA president apparently near conclusion, and FIFA itself hopefully ready to re-think its future in light of the kleptocratic past outlined in the U.S. Department of Justice’s recent criminal indictments, now is a natural time to consider what’s next for international women’s soccer. There are concrete steps that can be taken now to make things right with the World Cup players and make things better for women’s soccer generally.

One option would be to give women players a pay bonus for playing on the fake turf. Last year, after playing seven games on natural grass fields, the men’s World Cup-winning German team earned $35 million. The champion team this year will also play seven games (none on grass) and earn just $2 million. The overall prize-money pay gap is similarly stark: $358 million made available for all the men’s teams in 2014, but a mere $15 million for the women in 2015. And, according to Business Insider, because the women’s field expanded from 16 teams in 2011 to 24 this year, the average share for non-winning women’s teams has actually dropped when compared with the last tournament.

Meanwhile, FIFA reportedly spent nearly $30 million bankrolling an unwatchable biopic of itself and its leaders. The least it can do is add a similar amount to the prize money pot for this World Cup. While some professional sports events (see Wimbledon thanks to Venus Williams) have moved toward actual equal pay, giving women’s World Cup players even an extra dime or two to a man’s dollar would be meaningful progress. FIFA can call the payment whatever it wants but, whatever the “turf bonus” amount, the money should go directly to the players, with no middlemen.