THE recent, and welcome, report on working conditions in women’s football from the international players’ association FIFPro comes at the end of a year which has seen unprecedented levels of industrial action. The two events are entirely related.

As the Chelsea and Sweden goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl says, the top players have moved beyond just feeling grateful for being able to play international football. Many now want better remuneration as well.

Thus 2017 has seen major national team disputes, nearly all settled in favour of the players, in several countries around the world. Attitudes towards women footballers seem to be at their most backward in South America; even in Brazil the so-called beautiful game is accompanied by ugly sexism.

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The Scotland players were, of course, embroiled in their own dispute with the Scottish FA. They, and their representatives PFA Scotland, claim it was resolved to their satisfaction – although as their

grievances and negotiated outcomes were never shared with the public, we just have to take their word on that one.

What we do know is the SFA stuck to their red line of not paying match fees, on the flimsy grounds the Scotland men’s players – who are almost universally paid huge salaries by their clubs – don’t get fees either. But the daily allowance for the Scotland women’s players, which I understand was well below that paid to the Scotland men’s under-19 side, was upgraded as a result of the action.

At club level, the FIFPro report makes clear that few players worldwide make sustainable livings. Even in England, where relatively large sums of money are being invested, wages are low outwith the very top clubs. In Scotland players such as Jo Love and Leanne Ross, with 315 caps between them and counting, will end their playing days without having earned any money from football.

Their compensation is that when Love and Ross retire they will seamlessly continue their day jobs, while also freed from their massive commitments to football. The worry for professional players – and much more so than their male counterparts – is that they will end their playing days with no job, no prospects and no money in the bank.

For those not at the top clubs, a dual career remains the safest option. However, that won’t prevent young players from continuing to chase the dream of full-time professional football.

LEANNE Ross will have another option when she decides to hang up her playing boots. The Glasgow City captain was one of six prominent players who completed their Uefa B Licences last week.

That suggests Scotland is ahead of the curve, as the country is one of only half a dozen in Europe which has females in charge of the senior, under-19 and under-17 national sides. That two of them are Germany and France tells you all you need to know.

The other five with their B Licences are Rachel Corsie, Leanne Crichton, Christie Murray, Joelle Murray and Gemma Fay, the latter having retired from international football along with Ross after the Euros.

Fay and Joelle Murray have already got paid jobs in sport. The former has replaced Sheila Begbie as the head of girls and women's rugby at Murrayfield, while the Hibernian captain is her club's academy manager.

Christie Murray is a personal trainer, while the coaching qualification gives Crichton more strings to her bow than many small-sized orchestras. Corsie is a chartered accountant and took a significant wage cut to leave Glasgow City and start her professional playing career at Notts County.

For all six, continuing up the coaching ladder and finding jobs in football will be an option – but it will be far from the only one.