On Tuesday, the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) offered identical contract proposals for both the United States Women’s National Team Players Association (USWNTPA) and the United States National Soccer Team Players Association (USNSTPA). This new proposal would align the women’s and men’s senior national teams under one collective bargaining agreement.
This update comes after many years of different generations of USWNT players fighting the soccer federation over gender pay equity. Most recently, in 2019, twenty-eight players of the U.S. women’s World Cup-winning team filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against the USSF.
Players such as Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe have been leading the charge for equality. They have been the most publicly vocal, advocating on several different platforms for the cause. Both players had important roles in winning the 2015 and 2019 FIFA World Cups for the USWNT. Although the lawsuit was filed months before the World Cup in 2019, the victory only strengthened their position and fueled the debate. “I think to be on this team is to understand these issues,” Rapinoe told The New York Times. “And I think we’ve always — dating back to forever — been a team that stood up for itself and fought hard for what it felt it deserved and tried to leave the game in a better place.”
Recently, it was Morgan making the statements on behalf of her teammates. She spoke out with optimism on Wednesday after the USSF’s proposal. “We still need to chat about the statement given by U.S. Soccer. But any commitment to equal pay publically is good,” Morgan said. “However, we need to look line by line at what they’re providing.”
The USSF statement is a significant event in the lawsuit’s timeline. Morgan, along with the others from the USWNT, believes this is a good sign.
