US Women’s National Soccer Team Granted May 2020 Trial Date in Equal Pay Case

"We are pleased with the expeditious schedule that has been set by the court and we are eager to move forward with this case," Molly Levinson, spokesperson for the players, said Tuesday, according to multiple media sources. "We very much look forward to the trial in May 2020 when the players will have their day in court.”

"We have every confidence that these world champion athletes will get what they legally deserve - nothing less than equal pay and working conditions,” Levinson added.

The US Women’s National Team filed a lawsuit in March 2019 against the US Soccer Federation, accusing the sports organization of "institutionalized gender discrimination.” All current 28 members of the team are plaintiffs in the case.

The suit alleges the US Soccer Federation discriminates against women by paying them less than men "for substantially equal work and by denying them at least equal playing, training, and travel conditions; equal promotion of their games; equal support and development for their games; and other terms and conditions of employment equal to the Men’s National Soccer Team.”

"A comparison of the Women’s National Team and Men’s National Team pay shows that if each team played 20 friendlies in a year and each team won all twenty friendlies, the Women’s National Team players would earn a maximum of $99,000 or $4,950 per game, while similarly situated Men’s National Team players would earn an average of $263,320 or $13,166 per game against the various levels of competition they would face,” the complaint states.

Carlos Cordeiro, the current president of the US Soccer Federation, recently remarked that the US Women’s National Team has been paid more than the Men’s National Team over the last decade.

In an open letter released July 29, Cordeiro wrote that between 2010 and 2018, US Soccer paid “our women $34.1 million in salaries and game bonuses and we paid our men $26.4 million – not counting the significant additional value of various benefits that our women’s players receive but which our men do not.” Cordeiro also cited different pay structures for male and female players as a factor behind the pay gap.

​Female players have a guaranteed salary plus bonuses for matches, while men have no fixed salary and are only paid for the training camps they attend and the games they play, plus game bonuses. Apart from this, female players receive benefits, such as healthcare, that are not provided to the men, Cordeiro said.

The United States National Soccer Team Players Association on July 30 released a statement detailing that the governing body “downplays contributions to the sport when it suits them.”

“The members of the United States National Soccer Team Players Association once again stand with the members of the world champion Women's National Team in their pursuit of fair compensation for their work as professional soccer players,” the statement affirmed.