Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
–
FOOTBALL – Years of struggle finally rewarded. The US Soccer Federation pledged 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 star Megan Rapinoe, who had sued.
“US Soccer has committed to pay 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 both parties, transmitted this Tuesday, February 22 to AFP.
Twenty-eight players from the United States women’s national team, world champions in France in 2019, had filed a class action lawsuit against the discriminatory policy of the American Football Federation. “When we win, everyone wins,” American soccer star Megan Rapinoe applauded on Twitter after the deal was announced.
–
The agreement should put an end to the lawsuits initiated by this group of players and concerns a total of 24 million dollars, of which 22 million distributed according to a mode proposed by the players of the women’s national team.
“Obviously we can’t go back and erase the injustices we’ve faced, but it shows that it can never happen again,” Megan Rapinoe also said on ABC, hailing “a great day.”
“A victory for women in general”
Also interviewed on ABC and appearing alongside US Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone (a former international herself), striker Alex Morgan claimed the deal was a win for all parties. “It’s a monumental step forward that allows us to feel valued, respected, and repairs our relationship with US Soccer,” said the player with 190 caps.
“I don’t just see this as a victory for our team or women’s sport, but for women in general,” said Alex Morgan. 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.
US Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone said in September she hoped to “harmonize” World Cup bonuses for the US men’s and women’s teams, in order to settle the dispute between the body and the national team players.
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 refusing” to pay its players fairly.
FIFA, for example, granted a bonus of more than 32 million euros to France during their planetary success in 2018 among 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.
With four World Cup victories and as many Olympic gold medals, the United States Women’s National Soccer Team is the most successful in women’s sports history.
See also on The HuffPost: Australian Footballer Josh Cavallo Reveals His Gayness
–
