The US soccer federation has sent out an open letter earlier this week asking USMNT and USWNT to equally divide FIFA’s World Cup prize money.
Back in 2019, prominent American footballers like Alex Morgan sued the USSF and demanded for equal pay.
The disparity in the World Cup prize money between men’s and women’s teams has been a major issue between the two sides and the federation has now agreed to split the funds equally.
USSF have been criticized heavily over the past few years for paying women players less money as compared to men players and the federation has now decided to rectify the ongoing disparity.
According to reports, the US men’s national team also supported the women’s team in their demand for equal pay.
When the women’s team sued the American Football Federation back in 2019 they asked for more than £64 million in damages and £3 million in interest under the equal pay act and title seven of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Cindy Parlow Cone, the president of the US soccer federation has pleaded with the men’s and women’s teams to join hands and negotiate a solution.
The open letter read: “As a former player, I want to once again make it clear that I, along with all of U.S. Soccer, am 100% committed to equal pay for our national team players. We remain steadfast in our dedication to ensuring equal pay for our national team. We’re focused on demonstrating this commitment through action.
“As a federation, we would much rather negotiate a single collective bargaining agreement with both the men’s and women’s teams, but since neither team has agreed to take that approach, we are moving forward separately with each Players Association.
“The massive discrepancy in FIFA World Cup prize money is by far the most challenging issue we continue to face in our parallel negotiations with the men’s and women’s national teams. While FIFA has made some impactful investments in the women’s game, the discrepancy in prize money remains stark.
“FIFA alone controls those funds, and U.S. Soccer is legally obligated to distribute those funds based on our current negotiated collective bargaining agreements with the men’s and women’s teams. Within this challenge, we see an opportunity to create change.
“To capitalize on that opportunity, we need our men’s and women’s national teams to come together and re-think how we’ve done things in the past. To that end, we have invited the players and both Players Associations to join U.S. Soccer in negotiating a solution together that equalizes World Cup prize money between the USMNT and USWNT.”
