The U.S. women’s soccer players have reached a $24 million settlement with the U.S. Soccer Federation.
The settlement, announced on Tuesday, will resolve a lawsuit over unequal pay that five U.S. Women’s National Team players, including Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan, filed in 2019.
“For us, this is just a huge win in ensuring that we not only right the wrongs of the past but set the next generation up for something we only dreamed of,” Rapinoe said in a Tuesday interview on NBC’s Today.
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“We are really in the midst of an incredible turning point in women’s sport,” Rapinoe added, “If you’re not paying attention to this right now and what’s happening in women’s sport, you’re sleeping on the whole thing.”
U.S. Soccer will pay $22 million to the players who signed on to the case and an additional $2 million into a separate account that will benefit USWNT players in their post-soccer careers, a spokesperson for U.S. Soccer told the Washington Examiner. Players can apply for up to $50,000 from that account.
The settlement is also contingent upon a new collective bargaining agreement between women’s soccer players and the U.S. Soccer Federation.
“Getting to this day has not been easy,” the players and the U.S. Soccer Federation said in a joint statement to the Washington Examiner. “The U.S. Women’s National Team players have achieved unprecedented success while working to achieve equal pay for themselves and future athletes. Today, we recognize the legacy of the past USWNT leaders who helped to make this day possible, as well as all of the women and girls who will follow.”
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The lawsuit began in 2016 when Rapinoe, Morgan, and three other players filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint saying they were not being paid the same as their male counterparts. Twenty-eight members of the women’s team filed a lawsuit in 2019, alleging gender discrimination in both compensation and working conditions. The suit gained national attention and led several fans to chant, “Equal Pay!” before the U.S. women’s team’s 2019 World Cup victory.
While U.S. Soccer initially contested the team’s claims in September, the group also aimed to settle the matter in court.
