But they would miss out on a salary and earn only additional payments on offer, such as the base $500 currently paid for an international match. It would be a change from current arrangements where there is a preference for the women to play in the W-League, but Matildas coaching staff can grant their players permission to compete overseas while still being paid for being part of the national team. Matildas co-captain Emily van Egmond plays for FFC Frankfurt and Elise Kellond-Knight for FFC Turbine Potsdamin, both in Germany. PFA chief executive Adam Vivian said the FFA's position denied players the opportunity to pursue a career at the highest levels of the game. "This is damaging not only to individual players, but also to Australian football," he said.

"Restraining a player's career path not only suppresses their technical and tactical ability, but also impedes the prospects of the national team being able to compete on the world stage." The PFA want an immediate correction to Matildas salaries so they are at least on par with the Australian minimum wage of about $33,000 a year and for them to be able to take up opportunities overseas when not playing and training for the national squad. The Socceroos, Matildas and A-League players have joined together for the first time this year to negotiate their agreements with the FFA. But payments to the two national teams are structured differently. The Socceroos do not get paid a salary, but they are paid much more by the FFA than the women - their base payment for an international game was $6000 under their last agreement.

W-League teams have a $150,000 salary cap, but most do not have the funds to pay out that much money. Last years' premiers Perth Glory shared $50,000 amongst the entire squad. The A-League salary cap under the former agreement was $2.55 million per club per year. Striker Kate Gill dismissed claims the Matildas were getting caught up in a fight that was really about the men's A-League. "It's a collective fight, it's about doing what's right for the game in this country," she said.

Gill said Australian women playing overseas were not being paid a lot of money, but they could be earning in the vicinity of about $60,000 a year. She said she felt the FFA had not shown Matildas players the respect they deserved during the negotiating process. "It's extremely difficult, the girls never don't want to play," she said. The Matildas also want an improvement to their conditions, including travel arrangements that gave them the best chance of success overseas, rather than always being put on cheap flights. An FFA spokesman said under the proposal on the table, contracted elite female players had been offered a 10 per cent increase in years one and two and 15 per cent each year for the next two seasons.

Loading "This represents a significant increase in pay for the playing group such that the total player payments pool will nearly double across the term of the CBA under the proposal on the table," he said. "In the past, FFA has offered contracts to its elite female players based on participation in the Westfield W-League and Matildas programs, but again FFA is not in a position to comment what may happen in the future, given the new CBA remains under negotiation."