The U.S. Soccer Federation, along with its men’s and women’s senior national teams, announced a pair of historic labor deals early Wednesday that will unite the respective player pools under similar contract terms while cementing the equal pay long sought by the world-champion women.
The new CBAs, which have already been approved by the USSF’s board of directors and ratified by the two players’ unions, will run through 2028. They’re highlighted by an unprecedented provision that will combine and then split World Cup prize money awarded by FIFA, which was among the pillars of the USWNT’s equal pay pursuit. While the American women were given $4 million for winning the ’19 Women’s World Cup, a first-round exit from the ’18 World Cup in Russia would’ve been worth $8 million to the men (had they qualified). France, the champion, took home $38 million—more than the entire pool on offer to the 24 women’s participants the following year.
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