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13th January 2015
11:58am GMT

Because of her undoubted talent, and high profile in South America, Marta is streets ahead of her footballing rivals when it comes to wages. The next closest is the USA's Abby Wambach (€160k at Western New York Flash). Next on the list are Wambach's international colleagues, Alex Morgan (€60k) and Heather O'Reilly (€55k).
Wages in the Women's Soccer League, in England, as less bombastic. Central contracts for leading English internationals are €25,000 a year. The FA were slammed, in 2013, for offering €22,500 - soon after the team's decent run at the London Olympics. England, as a squad, refused to sign the contracts and the FA dipped a little deeper into their coffers.
As recently as last year, England defender Casey Stoney supplemented her Lincoln City wage with two part-time jobs. This took her annual salary up to €30,500, a figure, as noted by The Telegraph, Stoney's male counterparts earned in a day. Stoney secured a move to Arsenal Ladies in 2014 and now earns the same amount, without the added jobs.
Three of Sue Ronan's current Irish squad, at the training camp, are in the WSL. The majority play in the Women's National League but there is a talent spread across other European clubs, such as Ruesha Littlejohn (Norway), Denis O'Sullivan (Scotland) and Louise Quinn (Sweden).
The WSL, which begins in March, looks set to be Roche's most likely destination. The striker has remained tight-lipped on transfer speculation but a new club will be announced by the month's end. Wherever Roche ends up, her days of earning €200-a-week are over.Explore more on these topics:

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