Megan Rapinoe & US women's football team take step closer to equal pay | OneFootball

The US Women’s National Soccer Team have moved a step closer to equal pay after the US Soccer Federation revealed it has offered identical contract proposals to the player associations of the men’s and women’s teams.

In a statement, the USSF said the offer was intended to align both senior national teams “under a single collective bargaining agreement (CBA) structure.”

At present, the unions for the men and women are separate, meaning there is no obligation for joint terms to be agreed upon. The men’s contract expired in December 2018, while the women’s is still in effect till this December.

The statement added: "US Soccer firmly believes that the best path forward for all involved, and for the future of the sport in the United States, is a single pay structure for both senior national teams.

"This proposal will ensure that USWNT and USMNT players remain among the highest-paid senior national team players in the world while providing a revenue-sharing structure that would allow all parties to begin anew and share collectively in the opportunity that combined investment in the future of US Soccer will deliver over the course of a new CBA."

There was also an acknowledgement within the statement that US Soccer will not agree to any proposal that does not equalise FIFA World Cup prize money.

This has long been a contentious issue between the USSF and players since the federation decided they weren’t allowed to divide the prize pot, because it was controlled by FIFA.

USSF president Cindy Parlow Cone therefore sent an open letter encouraging the unions to equalise prize money, hoping the respective teams could come to a solution.

These latest developments come after the US women’s team sued the USSF in March 2019, arguing they had not been paid equitably in line with their agreement.

Led by Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe, the team asked for more than $66 million in damages under the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The claim for equal pay was thrown out by a federal judge, though an appeal was subsequently launched.

An agreement between the USSF and the women’s team over working conditions has now been reached.