The U.S. women’s soccer team reached a landmark $24 million settlement, bringing to a close a six-year legal battle over equal pay.
The deal includes $24 million-plus bonuses that will match the amount that men’s soccer has made. Under the agreement, the athletes will receive the settlement amount as well as a pledge from the federation to equalize pay for the men’s and women’s teams.
The lawsuit pitted the women’s soccer team against their national governing body for six years. The group of athletes was made up of several dozen current and former women’s national team players. They will share the amount, the bulk of which is back-pay, which means admission from the federation that the compensation for each gender’s team was unequal for years.
In addition to the payment, the U.S. Soccer Federation has pledged to equalize pay between the national teams in all competitions, including the World Cup. That gap was once viewed as a divide that was unbridgeable and preventing a settlement. This change itself could therefore funnel millions of dollars to the next generation of women’s soccer players in the U.S.
The agreement is contingent on the ratification of a contract between the player’s union and U.S. Soccer, but once it is finalized, it will resolve all of the remaining claims inside of the gender discrimination lawsuit that was filed in 2019.
In 2019, 28 members of the world champion U.S. women’s soccer team escalated the long-running fight with the federation over equal pay, filing the gender discrimination lawsuit. They described institutionalized gender discrimination that affected not only their paychecks, but where they played, how often they played, how they trained, their medical treatment, their coaching, and even how they traveled.
The settlement ends a battle that has damaged U.S. Soccer’s reputation, as well as ties with sponsors, and furthermore, its relationships with some of its most beloved and popular stars. U.S. Soccer had no legal obligation to settle with the group, because a federal judge in 2020 dismissed the equal pay arguments, shattering their legal leverage.
Therefore, this is a huge unexpected win for the players, and the players have called it a monumental win not only for them but for women.
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