The U.S. Soccer Federation announced Wednesday that it has reached a deal to pay the U.S. Men’s National Team and the U.S. Women’s National Team equally, eliminating a contentious pay gap.
For official competitions, including the World Cup, the women’s and men’s national team players will earn identical game appearance fees. For official competitions other than the World Cup, players of both genders will earn identical game bonuses.
U.S. Soccer becomes the first federation in the world to equalize FIFA World Cup prize money awarded to both women’s and men’s teams for participation in their respective World Cups.
“This is a truly historic moment. These agreements have changed the game forever here in the United States and have the potential to change the game around the world,” said U.S. Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone.
Under the new agreement, both teams will have identical performance-based bonuses for all games and competitions. The women’s team will no longer receive guaranteed salaries and have the same pay-to-play payments as their male counterparts.
The deal also covers other areas such child care, retirement, insurance, parental leave, short-term disability, mental health impairment, travel, accommodation, equal quality of venues and field playing surfaces.
“(The) next step is for other federations around the world to look to see what we have done and start doing it themselves,” Parlow Cone told reporters. “And then also encouraging the confederations and then as well as FIFA to equalize all prize money.”
U.S. Soccer said the new revenue-sharing framework will “provide additional encouragement for all parties to work together to grow the game.”
The agreement came three months after the U.S. Women’s National Team and U.S. Soccer agreed to resolve a dispute over equal pay dating back to 2016 when some players filed a federal wage discrimination complaint, claiming they were paid less than male players even though they generate more income for the United States Soccer Federation.
U.S. Women’s National Team is the most successful team in international women’s soccer, having won four World Cups, including the last one in 2019. U.S. men have never won the World Cup.
Source: Reuters