Posted in: 18/05/2022 – 22:34
The United States Soccer Federation on Wednesday approved equal pay for the men’s and women’s national team, following reaching a collective bargaining agreement that followed years of pressure from the players nationwide and a lawsuit filed in 2019 following they won the World Cup in France. The decision is the first at the global level and allows for equality in the awards granted to male and female players following participating in the World Cup.
Elected members will receive Women’s soccer The men are paid equal wages under a “historic” collective bargaining agreement announced on Wednesday by the local football federation, following years of pressure resorted to by female players at the national level.
“This is a truly historic moment. These agreements have forever changed the game here in the United States, and they have the potential to change the game around the world,” said USA Soccer President Cindy Barlow Kohn.
This move makes the American Football Association the first in the world to equalize the prizes awarded by participating in the World Cup between the men’s and women’s teams. The federation said on Wednesday that the terms of the new agreement include “equal compensation in all competitions, including the World Cup, and the introduction of the same commercial revenue-sharing mechanism for both teams.”
For her part, USA women’s team captain Becky Sauerbrunn said, “The achievements in the collective bargaining agreement are testament to the incredible efforts made by the players of the US women’s team on and off the field.” She hoped the agreement would “serve as a foundation for the continued growth of women’s soccer, both in the United States and abroad.”
Whether it’s a sellout crowd chanting “equal pay” following the World Cup Final or our @USMNT teammates, progress needs people willing to see and fight for a new way forward.
Finally, “thank you,” to my @USWNT teammates. This was hard.
– Becky Sauerbrunn (@beckysauerbrunn) May 18, 2022
And last February, the women’s team won a lawsuit, according to which it obtained compensation worth 24 million dollars, in addition to a pledge from the National Football Association to equal wages with the men’s team. The issue of equality and financial prizes for the World Cup formed a large part of the lawsuit filed by the US women’s team in 2019 following winning the world title, in which the federation was accused of “stubbornly refusing” to equal pay with the men’s team.
The agreement stipulated the distribution of $22 million to the players, while $2 million was allocated to a special account in order to help them “in their goals following the end of their careers and charitable efforts related to football for women and girls.” The lawsuit referred to the discrepancy in the World Cup prize money for the two teams in 2014 and 2015. Where the men’s team received 5.375 million dollars for reaching the final price in Brazil, while the women’s team received 1.725 million dollars for winning the title in Canada.
At the time, the National Federation considered that matters were not in his hands, because the financial prizes were determined by the International Federation of the game (FIFA), which gave the French team 38 million dollars for winning the 2018 World Cup in Russia, compared to only four million dollars for the women of the United States for winning the last world title in France. year 2019.
The US national team is a reference in women’s football, as it is the best historically in terms of its participation in the World Cup (8 times), crowned champion four times (a record), and runner-up in 2011 and third in 1995, 2003 and 2007, or the Olympic Games (participated 7 times, He won four golds in 1996, 2004, 2008, 2012, a silver in 2000 and a bronze in 2021).
FRANCE 24/AFP