The fruits of the new agreement between the U.S. men’s and women’s soccer teams is about to pay off.
Under the equal pay agreement signed this year, both teams are splitting the prize money for the World Cup. That means that both teams get $6.5 million for the men’s team beating Iran to advance to the round of 16 and will continue to split the prize money down the middle.
The terms, agreed to in May and formally signed in September, put both teams on the same payment model through 2028.
The women’s team, which has won the last two World Cups, had been advocating for equal pay for a long time without success. It took a collectively bargained agreement with buy-in from both the men and the U.S. Soccer Federation to achieve it.
Prior to that, the women’s team had sued U.S. Soccer for gender discrimination. The lawsuit was settled in 2019 for $24 million, contingent on the new agreement.
