The Matildas are set to become full-time professional athletes for the first time after receiving an offer from Football Federation of Australia to provide contracted players with the national minimum annual wage.

Following a bitter pay dispute that resulted in the Australian national women's team withdrawing from two blockbuster friendlies against world champions USA this month, the Matildas could now stand to receive their greatest pay increase. The days of balancing part-time jobs with a full-time elite football demands may be over after the FFA offered the players a minimum base-salary of at least $34,000 a year as a result of recent collective bargaining agreement negotiations with the players' union, Professional Footballers Australia.

Progress: Kyah Simon and the Matildas may sson be able to be full-time professionals. Credit:AP

Fairfax Media understands the FFA offered a two-tier deal to the players allowing about 10 of the best selected to earn a minimum salary of $44,000 with the remaining half to be guaranteed the minimum salary before match fees and other bonuses.

The historic offer is a major boost for Australia's elite female athletes who knocked back the FFA's initial proposal that would have fallen well short of the Australian minimum salary. Both the PFA and FFA declined to comment on the progress of the CBA negotiations when contacted by Fairfax Media but confirmed their first offer that was rejected was a 10 per cent increase to the Matildas' current salary of $21,000 a year in a statement released on September 10.

"FFA had taken the position that the priority for new funding for the Matildas would be devoted to an immediate 10 per cent pay increase, with annual increases rising to 15 per cent across the term of the CBA," FFA chief executive David Gallop said in the statement.



However, the players have not yet accepted the terms of the new offer after receiving the deal on Tuesday with outstanding terms yet to be agreed upon. One of the biggest issues posing as a wedge between the players and the FFA remains in clauses allowing contracted players to play in more lucrative leagues overseas instead of the 12-round W-League season.

There are other clauses relating to maternal leave and parental care to be agreed upon. Under the previous deal, new mothers returning to international football had to pay for all travel and accommodation costs to bring babies and carers along on tour and pregnant players weren't guaranteed to continue being paid after the expiration of their short six-month contracts.

The renewed CBA offer will likely include a raise of the A-League salary cap by $50,000 for the next two seasons bringing the total limit to $2.6 million. The money injected into the A-League salary cap will still come from the total pool of funds allocated to players with the $50,000 diverted from other areas of payments made by the FFA to the players via their union. Sources suggest the FFA has not allocated additional funds for A-League player payments as a result of recent negotiations but the additional funds come from original overall sum of approximately $30 million paid to the Socceroos, A-League clubs and Matildas.