The U.S Soccer women’s and men’s national teams announced new contracts Wednesday, May 18, 2022, that will pay women and men equally, including a split of World Cup prize money.
This has been a decades-long fight by the USWNT, U.S. Soccer’s most successful and visible team for equal compensation and fair treatment.
“It’s very rewarding. For me, I feel very humbled to join this fight that has been going on years before I even touched a ball. Before I was born, actually,” Midge Purce, a member of the USWNT’s bargaining committee, told USA TODAY Sports.
“I’m really proud of the work that’s been done. A lot of gifted people came together to put together something really special.”
Under the new contract, the USWNT would be $7.2 million, a 54 percent increase from 2018. Also under the new deal, U.S. Soccer will put 90 percent of the prize money from both the men’s and women’s World Cups into a pool, and the players will split that.
