A decade ago, members of the U.S. Women’s National Team began their fight for equal pay. The team had won four World Cup titles, four Olympic gold medals, and spent six years ranked as FIFA’s No. 1. Meanwhile, the men had failed to even qualify for the 2017 World Cup—and the women only got bonuses of $110,000 for their win while the men would have raked in more than $400,000 each.
This was all part of a six-year lawsuit involving soccer’s biggest stars, like Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe. It got ugly at times. The U.S. Soccer Federation argued in filings that the pay disparities were valid because the women “do not perform equal work requiring equal skill [and] effort.” Since then, U.S. Soccer has overhauled its leadership.
In 2022, the two sides settled the lawsuit for $24 million. That year, the men’s and women’s teams also signed new collective-bargaining agreements with U.S. Soccer. The CBA determined that when both teams qualified for the World Cup, FIFA prize money would be split equally between men’s and women’s players, regardless of which team won it.
That split was first triggered later in 2022, when the men won $13 million in a round-of-16 exit in that year’s World Cup, and 2023, when the women earned $1.87 million for a same-stage exit in their competition.
Right now, of course, the men have just competed in the 2026 World Cup. They were eliminated earlier this week in the round of 16—a heartbreaking loss against Belgium after fans believed the team finally had what it took to make it further. They still won $16 million, which means that each player—men and women—is poised to get $246,153.85 each. That’s $16 million, with 20% earmarked for U.S. Soccer and the other 80% split 52 ways.
Of course, people have opinions. Equal pay isn’t quite as popular a cause as it was in 2022, and the anti-DEI brigades have come out in force. The Women’s World Cup isn’t until 2027, so these viewers aren’t factoring in that the women will likely win some prize money next year that will also be split. (In fact, the men’s money is held in an account and not distributed until after the women play too.)
It doesn’t help that the women’s team hasn’t been on the same hot streak as it was in the 2010s. (They’re still ranked No. 2, though.) Then, the women were doing so much better than the men that it was hard for anyone to argue they shouldn’t benefit from U.S. Soccer’s overall earnings. With the women’s disappointing 2023 finish fresh in people’s minds, the voices of those who oppose this arrangement get louder.
But U.S. Soccer isn’t the same as global soccer. Compared to the rest of the world, women have been crucial in growing the sport of soccer in the U.S. Women’s players are among the sport’s biggest stars here; U.S. Soccer’s arrangement compensated the women for their contributions to the growth of the overall game. The difference in pay was partly a FIFA problem—and FIFA has committed to increasing its prize sizes for the women’s game recently, meaning if the women go all the way next year the men will be poised to benefit tremendously too.
It’s a win-win—even without a World Cup win (yet).
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
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PARTING WORDS
"It was really about being valued equally when I was doing equal work. For me, it was as simple as that. I was very, very happy when we got it, and very, very happy for what it seemingly did for other women."
— Emmy Rossum, on Call Her Daddy, remembering her fight for equal pay on Shameless
