American soccer star Megan Rapinoe hailed ” A great day “. The United States Soccer Federation agreed to pay the women’s national team at the same level as the men’s team in an agreement with a group of players – including Megan Rapinoe – who had sued the case.
“US Soccer is committed to paying equal pay from now on for the women’s and men’s national teams in all friendlies and tournaments, including the World Cup”detail the terms of the agreement between the two parties, sent to Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Tuesday 22 February.
Twenty-eight players from the United States women’s national team, world champion in France in 2019, had filed a class action lawsuit against the discriminatory policy of the American Football Federation. The agreement should put an end to the lawsuits. It concerns a total of 24 million dollars, including 22 million distributed according to a mode proposed by the players of the women’s national team.
“Monumental step forward”
The application of the terms of the agreement will depend on the ratification of a collective agreement between the players of the national team and the federation. Once this collective agreement is ratified and the agreement approved by a court, the lawsuits will be extinguished.
“When we win, everyone wins”, applauded Megan Rapinoe on Twitter following the announcement of the agreement. “Obviously, we cannot go back and erase the injustices we have faced, but it shows that this can never happen again”she also said on the ABC channel.
Interviewed on this same channel alongside the president of US Soccer, Cindy Parlow Cone, striker Alex Morgan also considered that the agreement represented a victory for all parties. “It’s a monumental step forward that makes us feel valued, respected, and repairs our relationship with US Soccer”said the player with 190 selections. “I don’t just see this as a victory for our team or women’s sport, but for women in general”also supported Alex Morgan.
Most successful women’s team in sports history
Cindy Parlow Cone said in September that she hoped “harmonize” the bonuses linked to the World Cup for the American men’s and women’s teams, in order to settle the dispute between the body and the players of the national team. With four World Cup victories and as many gold medals at the Olympic Games, the United States women’s national soccer team is the most successful in the history of women’s sport.
The question of these bonuses was an important part of the lawsuit brought by the American women’s team in 2019, and notably brought by Megan Rapinoe, accusing the federation of “stubbornly refuse” to pay its players fairly.
FIFA, for example, granted a bonus of more than 32 million euros to France during its global success in 2018 for men, while only 3.4 million euros were paid to the Americans during their world title. of 2019. And the American players, eliminated in the round of 16 in 2014, had received 4.5 million euros while their female counterparts had only received 1.45 million for winning their competition.
