This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

World Cup-bound Aivi Luik and fellow Matilda Alex Chidiac have become the first female Australian players to join a growing global movement in which footballers pledge 1% of their income to help tackle social issues.

The addition of Chidiac and Luik, who is currently at a training camp in Turkey in preparation for Australia’s upcoming campaign in France, takes the number of players signed up to the Common Goal cause to 100.

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Last week, 15 members of Canada’s national women’s team got on board and with the Australian pair now joining them, gender parity has been achieved – 50 men and 50 women have pledged to make similar donations.

Luik said her joining the collective movement, which started 20 months ago when Manchester United’s Juan Mata pledged 1% of his income to the fund, was a “no brainer”.

“We’re in a really blessed situation as footballers and we have the privilege of earning a good income,” said Luik. “And at 1% I feel like almost anyone can give that because there a lot of other people in a lot greater need than ourselves.”

Despite some recent advances, women footballers still earn a fraction of their male counterparts, making the gesture made by Luik, Chidiac and the 48 other women all the more remarkable.

The vast gender pay gap in football prompted reigning world champions the United States to file a lawsuit against their own their own federation in March over “institutionalised gender discrimination”.

The first female players to join the Common Goal movement were Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan, both of the US team.

Chidiac said it was her sense of privilege and the belief and support she received from her family and football community in Australia that convinced her to make the pledge.

“Through Common Goal I would love to somehow make a positive impact on the lives of people who haven’t had the support I’ve had, and to hopefully inspire them to believe in themselves, whatever their challenges, so that they too can find their passion and chase their dreams,” she said.

Common Goal seeks to tackle social issues ranging from gender equality to peace building and refugee integration by raising money for what it terms “football for good” organisations.

Since its inception, it has generated US$1.4m for football charities empowering youth around the world, and it continues to grow.

“When I became the first player to make the Common Goal pledge 20 months I hoped that this would spread through the player community,” Mata said. “To welcome our first two Australian women to the team is a great pleasure and shows the global reach of this sport.

“But I’m especially happy as Aivi and Alex are the 99th and 100th player to join this incredible team and we have now reached a complete gender balance between female and male members in Common Goal.”

Chidiac and Luik, who both ply their trade in Spain – for Atlético Madrid and Levante respectively – join Alex Brosque, the former Sydney FC captain who recently retired after lifting the A-League trophy, and Moya Dodd, the former Matildas vice-captain and one of the first women to sit on Fifa’s executive committee, as Australians to donate to the cause.

“We are a nation that believes in the power of sport,” Dodd said. “So it’s a perfect fit for Aivi and Alex to be part of a player movement that supports football programs as a tool for social change.”