US Soccer has reached a historic agreement to ensure equal pay between the men’s and women’s national teams, which means that the American federation will become the first in its sport to achieve gender parity.
The organization that oversees soccer in the United States said Wednesday that it has reached separate collective agreements with the unions of each of the national teams which will be in force until December 2028, ending years of negotiations at loggerheads.
The collective agreement governing the men’s national team had expired in December 2018. That of the women’s national team expired at the end of March, but talks continued after the federation and the players agreed to amicably settle a lawsuit for discrimination brought by some of them in 2019. The agreement was, however, conditional on the federation ratifying a collective agreement ensuring pay parity between the two teams.
“I’m very proud to know that the young girls who follow us will know their true worth, and that they won’t have to fight for it. However, my father always told me that you were never rewarded for doing what was expected of you — and men and women were expected to be paid the same, said American striker Margaret Purce. So I won’t be handing out gold stars in the notebooks, but I’m grateful to everyone who got involved to accomplish this feat. »
The World Cup prize pool
The main point of contention was undoubtedly the World Cup scholarships, which are paid out based on the team’s results in the tournament. While the US national team enjoyed success on the international stage by winning back-to-back World Cups, the scholarships paid to women were far lower than those offered to men.
The unions have therefore agreed to pay all FIFA scholarships after the men’s soccer World Cup later this year and the women’s soccer World Cup next year into a common fund, as well as for the 2026 and 2027 tournaments. The kitty will then be divided equally among the members.
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