America didn't invent soccer, but this nation has taken global leadership in making the world's game truly equitable.
A May 18 collective bargaining deal solidified an arrangement a long time coming: equal pay for the men's and women's national soccer teams. It is staggering to contemplate how slow this progress has been. The Women's World Cup — which the U.S. Women's National Team has won four times — has been a global event since 1991.
Yet, three decades later, it still took protracted negotiations and a lawsuit, settled in February, for America to become the first nation to equalize pay for its international soccer representatives. The movement needs to go global. Women's World Cup teams competed in 2019 for shares of $30 million — less than 8% of the $400 million that constituted the pot in the 2018 men's tournament.
