US Women’s Soccer Team Files Wage Discrimination Complaint

Five of the top players for the World Cup champion U.S. women’s soccer team filed a federal wage discrimination complaint claiming they are paid less than male players, even though they generate more income for the United States Soccer Federation (USSF).

The five players involved in the complaint are co-captains Carli Lloyd and Becky Sauerbrunn, forward Alex Morgan, midfielder Megan Rapinoe and goalkeeper Hope Solo – five of the biggest names in U.S. women’s soccer. Jeffrey Kessler, their lawyer, has argued that despite similar work requirements and far better performances, the women’s team is paid far less than the men’s after bonuses are taken into account.

In their complaint, the five players cited recent U.S. Soccer financial reports as proof that they have become the federation’s main economic engine even as, they said, they earned as little as 40 percent of what players on the United States men’s national team earned over the same period.

The women said they were shortchanged on everything from bonuses to appearance fees to per diems.

Kessler said the women’s team, which has won three World Cup titles and four Olympic gold medals, made at least $16 million for the federation in 2015.

The men’s team lost money for the entity.

“This is the strongest case of discrimination against women athletes in violation of law that I have ever seen,” Kessler told the New York Times.

“The numbers speak for themselves,” said Solo. “We are the best in the world, have three World Cup championships, four Olympic championships, and the U.S.M.N.T. get paid more to just show up than we get paid to win major championships.”

According to Kessler, both national teams “have identical work requirements. The same number of minimum friendlies, the same requirements about participating and making the World Cup teams — identical work.”

“But the women,” he said, “have without dispute vastly outperformed the men not just on the playing field but economically for the USSF. The women have generated all the money in comparison with the men.”

U.S. Soccer said in a statement it would negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement in 2017 that would address compensation with the players. “U.S. Soccer will continue to be an advocate on the global soccer stage to influence and develop the women’s game and evolve FIFA’s compensation model,” it said.