Fans across the country were excited when the U.S. men’s soccer team defeated Iran 1-0 to advance to the knockout round of the World Cup, but no one may have been cheering as hard as the U.S. women’s soccer team.
Under a clause in the recent collective bargaining agreement, the men’s team and women’s team receive an equal percentage of the pooled prize money for World Cups.
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By advancing to the Round of 16, U.S. Soccer will earn $13 million. If the men’s team loses to the Netherlands on Saturday, the men’s team players will receive a combined roughly $6.5 million from the pool, and the women’s team players will combined receive the remaining roughly $6.5 million.
The collective bargaining agreement was reached in May and makes U.S. Soccer “the first Federation in the world to equalize FIFA World Cup prize money” awarded to men’s and women’s teams.
With the new agreement, the women’s team is already set to earn more from the men’s team’s performance at the 2022 World Cup than their championship at the 2015 and 2019 World Cups.
The disparate compensation by FIFA, which is in charge of international soccer, and U.S. Soccer between the men’s and Women’s World Cups was a massive part of negotiations for the women’s team.
The prize money pool for the 2022 World Cup is $440 million, while the prize money pool for the Women’s World Cup is currently set at $60 million.
The women’s team’s success versus the men’s team’s underperformance brought further attention to the issue. Between the men’s team’s last appearance at the World Cup in 2014 and the current tournament, the U.S. women’s team won two World Cups and a bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics. In that same span, the U.S. men’s team was eliminated in the round of 16 in 2014, failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, and has advanced to the round of 16 in this year’s World Cup.
Historically, the U.S. women have qualified for every Women’s World Cup, which began in 1991, and have won four of the tournaments, with their worst finish being third place. The U.S. men have only qualified for 11 of the 22 tournaments, which began in 1930, with the best finish being third place in the 1930 World Cup.
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The U.S. men’s team faces the Netherlands in the round of 16 Saturday at 10 a.m. EST with the game being televised by Fox. The U.S. women’s team defeated the Netherlands 2-0 in the 2019 World Cup final.
If the men’s team wins on Saturday, the prize for both the men’s and women’s team splits will grow to $17 million, and if the men go on to win the World Cup, the prize money from FIFA is $72 million.
