CLARETS striker Chris Wood has helped broker a new deal that treats New Zealand’s male and female national-team footballers equally in terms of pay, prize money, image rights and travel conditions – an unprecedented arrangement in world football.

As captain of the All Whites and board member of the New Zealand Professional Footballers’ Association (NZPFA) Wood was involved with negotiations with the national football federation.

Wood has seen elite women footballers struggle with pay and conditions at close quarters. His sister Chelsey represented New Zealand, while his girlfriend Kirsty Linnett is at Reading, who play in the Women's Super League.

"This is the way it should be,” Wood said of the new deal.

"I am just lucky that I’ve got people around me that opened my eyes to the situation. Other male players don’t see the side of it unless it is forced upon them or until someone shows them.

"I have heard what the women have gone through and we wanted to make sure that they never have to do this again, because it is not right.

"I know the men’s team brings in more revenue. But the women bring in more exposure to New Zealand football because they are at the World Cup on a more regular basis and have done extremely well against top nation sides like France, Sweden and Spain. We, the men, very rarely get to play top teams.

"We bring in a good chunk of revenue, but we believe that revenue should be split between both men’s and women’s football.

"The women have been to countless World Cups and have been in the World’s top twenty for the last six years. They are entitled to the exact same deal as us, because they do the same job as us."

The key improvement in this deal through 2020 is that female players will travel business class on long-haul flights for the first time. Wood convinced his male teammates – who have been flying business class since the 2010 World Cup - to support the women’s request for business class travel.

"When I had to travel back in economy class I could not get off a plane and play football within four days. It would be physically impossible and very detrimental for my body. The risk of injury would be extremely high," he said of that move.