The United States Soccer Federation has unveiled a landmark equal pay agreement.
The organization said Wednesday it has agreed to terms on bargaining agreements with the U.S. Women's National Team Players Association and the U.S. National Soccer Team Players Association to pay men and women players equally.
"This is a truly historic moment," Cindy Parlow Cone, president of the U.S. Soccer Federation, said. "These agreements have changed the game forever here in the United States and have the potential to change the game around the world."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The agreements extend through 2028 and "include identical compensation for all competitions," including the World Cup, where prize money will be equalized. For other competitions, the announcement said, the men's and women's national teams "will earn identical game bonuses," and they'll receive equal appearance fees and performance payments.
The news comes after years of the U.S. women's national soccer team fighting for equal pay, including by bringing a gender discrimination lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation. "There's no reason why we're underpaid for the exception of gender," national team player Megan Rapinoe testified in 2021. In February, the U.S. Soccer Federation settled the case for $24 million, which Rapinoe hailed as a "huge win."
Becky Sauerbrunn, president of the U.S. Women's National Team Players Association, celebrated Wednesday's agreement and "its historic achievements in not only providing for equal pay but also in improving the training and playing environment for National Team players."
-
Should Britain withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights?Talking Point With calls now coming from Labour grandees as well as Nigel Farage and the Tories, departure from the ECHR 'is starting to feel inevitable'
-
5 outspoken cartoons about Epstein survivors taking center stageCartoons Artists take on cover-ups, Trump surrounded, and more
-
Codeword: September 6, 2025The Week's daily codeword puzzle
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's viewSpeed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talkSpeed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wifespeed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play
