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Women's Football Head of Fifa backs calls of more World Cup prize money as United States beat Ireland

FIFA President Gianni Infantino took time out of his summer holidays to drop by the Rose Bowl on Saturday for a celebration of the newest Women’s World Cup champions.

And Infantino is confident the next winners of that trophy will reap even bigger rewards in four years.

Departing coach Jill Ellis and the US national team opened their post-World Cup domestic victory tour with a 3-0 victory over Ireland.

The Swiss executive repeated his desire to see constant growth in the women’s game, including his recent declarations of his determination to double the prize money to $60 million (£48m) for an expanded 32-team women’s tournament in 2023.

“We have until 2023 to discuss about the prize money,” Infantino said. “I think we need to market it as well in a certain way, and I’m very confident. I’m sure we can go higher than [doubling the prize money]. We need to be optimistic.”

Optimism about the women’s game thrived on a celebratory evening at the famed Rose Bowl, where the US kicked off a five-city tour, bringing the champions to their eager Stateside fans.

They’ll also stop in Philadelphia, St Paul and Charlotte before finishing in Chicago on October 3 to conclude Ellis’s five-and-a-half years in charge.

Ellis announced her decision last Tuesday to walk away as the first two-time women’s World Cup champion coach, and this win improved her record to 103-7-18 in the US’s top job since 2014.

The new boss will have a compressed time frame to prepare the team for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which will be in the semi-finals at this time next year.

“To do two World Cups, it’s the start of a cycle and the finish of a cycle, so I feel complete in that sense,” Ellis said. “I love change. I embrace change. I have a family and sometimes it’s 150-plus days on the road. All of those things combined in this decision.”

Nearly four weeks after their World Cup-clinching victory over the Netherlands, the US showed off the ample two-way talent with which their new coach can work.

With an enthusiastic crowd of 37,040 cheering their every move, they had little trouble with Ireland, Fifa’s 33rd-ranked side. Tobin Heath, Lindsey Horan and Carli Lloyd scored first-half goals.

“The US team, the way they performed, the way they won, the way they came over and contributed greatly to the success [of the World Cup], now it’s up to us together with them to build something sustainable and meaningful for the future,” Infantino said.

Late in the scoreless second half, that crowd started a loud chant of “Equal pay! Equal pay!” Players on the women’s team sued the US Soccer Federation in March over sex discrimination in areas including financial compensation.

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