US men's and women's teams agree 'game-changing' equal pay deal | OneFootball

It is a historic day for soccer in the United States and worldwide after a labour deal was struck which will close the pay gap between the men’s and women’s national teams.

Wednesday’s announcement is the culmination of a long battle between the women’s team and the US Soccer Federation, which included a high-profile lawsuit that was settled earlier this year.

The agreement makes the United States the world’s first country to achieve equal pay for its men’s and women’s soccer teams.

“This is a truly historic moment,” said US Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone.

“These agreements have changed the game forever here in the United States and have the potential to change the game around the world.

“US Soccer and the USWNT and USMNT players have reset their relationship with these new agreements and are leading us forward to an incredibly exciting new phase of mutual growth and collaboration as we continue our mission to become the preeminent sport in the United States.”

The agreement will also see the US teams pool the World Cup bonuses received from FIFA and split them equally between the men’s and women’s teams. Until now, the men’s team had earned much larger World Cup bonuses than the four-time champion women, even in years when the men didn’t advance out of the tournament’s group stage. FIFA pays much larger sums to men’s teams, citing the fact that the men’s tournament generates substantially more revenue.

“It’s going to be game-changing for what women’s football looks like in general,” USWNT forward Margaret Purce said.

“It’s historic, and I think it’s going to trigger a lot of other things in the sport, not just in the United States but globally.”

As well as splitting the World Cup bonuses evenly, the agreements will end guaranteed salaries for the women’s players and instead pay them at the same rates as the men for achievements such as roster selection and team performances.

For similar non-World Cup tournaments, players on both teams also will earn equal amounts of total prize money. The teams also will equally share a portion of the USSF’s broadcast, partner and sponsorship revenue and receive a share of the revenue from tickets sold at USSF-organised home matches.

Both teams will receive bonuses for games that are sold out.