Australia women to tour China after interim agreement reached on pay dispute

Australia are set to tour China after an agreement was reached over pay ©Getty Images

Football Federation Australia (FFA) have announced that the country's women’s team will proceed with a planned camp and tour of China, which will see them continue their preparations for the Rio 2016 Olympics.

It follows the body having an interim deal accepted by Professional Footballers Australia (PFA), who had called off the team's planned tour of the United States last month as a result of a bitter pay dispute.

The PFA had accused the FFA of not addressing concerns raised by players with the team, nicknamed the Matildas, reportedly having not been paid for two months.

A boycott of commercial and school events squad members were due to attend in Perth prior to the trip to America had also taken place.

Under instruction from the PFA, players also missed the final training camp in Sydney ahead of their scheduled departure to the US, with the body having been negotiating a pay deal as part of a collective bargaining agreement (CBA).

However, the FFA have now confirmed that Alen Stajcic's side are set to travel to China between October 23 and 27 to play matches against the hosts and England, having reached an agreement “on the same basis as was previously offered before the Matildas’ tour of the USA”.

The FFA also revealed that the PFA have advised them that they are in the process of putting the terms for the “Whole of the Game CBA” to their members.

Following the agreement, Stajcic has led a 22-woman training camp in preparation for the matches, featuring 16 of the players who took the team to the quarter-finals of the Women’s FIFA World Cup in Canada.

Australia were beaten at the quarter-final stage of the women's World Cup ©Getty Images

Mackenzie Arnold and Lydia Williams are the two goalkeepers who participated in the training camp and they were joined by Laura Alleway, Nicola Bolger, Tameka Butt, Stephanie Catley, Lisa De Vanna, Caitlin Foord and Katrina Gorry.

Michelle Heyman, Alanna Kennedy, Samantha Kerr, Clare Polkinghorne, Hayley Raso, Kyah Simon and Ashleigh Sykes also represented Australia at the World Cup, with Tara Andrew, Georgia Yeoman-Dale, Princess Ibini-Isei, Amy Harrison, Ellie Brush and Caitlin Cooper making their first appearances in the squad.

The tour is seen as crucial to their preparations for the Rio 2016 women's Olympic qualifiers between February 29 and March 9 in Japan, with Australia playing in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) qualifying tournament.