The United States Soccer Federation has struck historic deals to pay its men’s and women’s teams equally, the first of their kind in the sport.
Wednesday’s announcement ended years of acrimonious negotiations with both teams’ unions and followed a high profile thrust by players from the women’s team, which unlike the men’s team has been dominant in international tournaments, for pay parity.
$26 million settlement in a gender discrimination lawsuit filed by some players in 2019 was contingent on reaching employment contracts that matched salaries and bonuses between the two teams. The new contracts run through December 2028.
“I’m very proud of the girls who will see this grow and recognize its value instead of having to fight for it,” said US forward Margaret Purce after the announcement.
“However, my dad always told me that you don’t get rewarded for doing what you’re supposed to do, and what you’re supposed to do is pay men and women equally,” she added. “So I’m not giving any gold stars, but I’m thankful for this achievement and for all the people who came together to make it happen.”
The deal includes a first-of-its-kind scheme for pooling FIFA World Cup prize money, which is based on how far a team advances in the tournament, in both the men’s and women’s teams. Then, each player will receive corresponding payments for appearance in the game. The current agreement covers men world cup in novembernext year’s Women’s World Cup and tournaments in 2026 and 2027.
Men’s team member Walker Zimmerman, a US National Team Players Association leadership group, players saw the negotiations as an “opportunity to be a leader on this front and join the women’s side and the US Soccer. So we’re excited that that’s how we were able to close the deal.”
US Soccer had previously based the bonuses on payments from FIFA, which allocated $400 million for the 2018 men’s tournament, including $38 million for the French champion, and $30 million for the 2019 women’s tournament, including $4 million for the champions. from USA
FIFA has increased the total to $440 million for the 2022 men’s World Cup, and its president, Gianni Infantino, has proposed that FIFA double the women’s prize money to $60 million for the 2023 Women’s World Cup, in which FIFA has increased the teams to 32.
The US women’s team has been the most successful of any country’s team since the first Women’s World Cup in 1991. They have qualified for every tournament and won four championships, most recently in 2015 and 2019.
The men’s team, compete at the World Cup in Qatar in November, he missed qualifying for the tournament in 2018 and never won the championship.
US Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone, a former national team player who became head of the governing body in 2020, hailed the deal as “a real credit to all the different groups that came together, negotiating at one table.” .
“I think that’s where the tipping point really happened. Before, trying to negotiate a collective agreement with the women and then going around and negotiating the terms of the collective agreement with the men and vice versa was really a challenge. I think the real turning point was when we were finally all in the same room, sitting at the same table, working together and collaborating to achieve this goal.”
Under the deal, for minor tournaments, such as those run by North America’s governing body, players will earn identical play bonuses. And for exhibition games, players will receive matching appearance fees and performance pay based on match result and opponent rank.
The women and men will also receive a share of commercial revenue from tickets to USSF-controlled matches, with ticket-out bonuses, and each team will earn a share of broadcast, partner and sponsor revenue, although the women they waived guaranteed base salaries in reaching the agreement.
Men will also be covered for childcare during training camps and national team matches, a benefit women have had for 25 years.