U.S. Soccer Offers Equal Contracts for Men’s and Women’s Soccer

  After years of fighting for equal pay, the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team has one major victory. The U.S. Soccer Federation officially offered equal contract proposals to each team.  

   This announcement came on Sep. 14, but the specifics of the contracts have not yet been realized. The U.S. Soccer Federation has stated that they want each player on the National teams to “remain among the highest paid Ensor national team players in the world.”

    This comes as a result from a previous lawsuit from many players of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer team, who argued that they did not receive equal pay, even after consistently winning. The lawsuit has since been somewhat thrown out, but the fight for equal pay remained. 

   Sophia Widarto (11), a player for the Aliso Niguel girls soccer team stated that, “I think it’s [the new contracts] definitely a good thing. The women’s tema has been fighting for that for awhile and it definitely is a step in the right direction. At the same time they need to work for it.”

   Equal pay has also been an issue with FIFA, who host the World Cup. The prize money set for the men’s World Cup in 2022 is 440 million, while the women’s World Cup in 2023 will have a prize of 60 million. 

    This change in contract will allow for both teams to be united under one collective bargaining agreement (CBA). In the past, both teams have had vastly different CBA’s with the women’s CBA including injury pay and health care, while the men’s CBA included a pay for play structure.   

   While this is another step in the right direction, there is still a long way to go when it comes to equal pay and equal protections and benefits for both the men and women’s national  teams.