Paris: The average annual salary for a female professional soccer player globally is $10,900, says FIFA’s annual report on the women’s game, a figure skewed by a small number of top clubs.

Among the teams FIFA designated as Tier 1, which includes 41 clubs from 16 countries, the average salary was around $24,030, although 16 of those top clubs paid an average gross salary of over $50,000, according to the “Setting the Pace, FIFA Benchmarking Report on Women’s Football” released. The highest of those salaries was approximately $120,000. The average gross salary, however, at Tier 2 and 3 clubs was $4,361 and $2,805, respectively.

“There is a need for players of a certain standard to earn a reliable and sufficient income solely from playing, reducing their dependence on secondary sources of income and allowing them to dedicate the time required to play at a higher level,” the report said.