In 2021, women who played in the National Women’s Soccer League earned between $22,000 and $85,000, and over 75% of the players earned $31,000 or less. On Wednesday, the United States Soccer Federation agreed to give the US women’s soccer team equal pay.
In 2019, the U.S. Women’s National Team filed an equal-pay lawsuit highlighting the inequality of pay and standards for the women’s and men’s teams.
“In reality, the USSF has utterly failed to promote gender equality,” the lawsuit reads. “It has stubbornly refused to treat its female employees who are members of the women’s national team, equally to its male employees who are members of the men’s national team.”
The USWNT has won 11 World Cup championships while the U.S. men’s soccer team has won zero.
Under the new agreement, players on both the women’s and men’s teams will receive the same pay for appearance fees and game bonuses. Previously women players had a salary, now they will have the same pay-to-play framework as the male players.
“This is a truly historic moment,” U.S. Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone said in a statement. “These agreements have changed the game forever here in the United States and have the potential to change the game around the world.”
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