The women asked for more than $64 million in damages plus $3 million in interest under the Equal Pay Act and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Players led by Alex Morgan sued the USSF in March 2019, contending they have not been paid equitably under their collective bargaining agreement that runs through December 2021 compared to what the men’s team receives under its agreement that expired in December 2018. The women's deal also includes injury pay, 401(k) plans and severance. The union for the women’s team agreed to a deal with differing benefits, such as health care, pay for players in the National Women’s Soccer League and maternity and pregnancy leave and pay. Parlow Cone said the USSF will be offering both unions the same contract, which she said the USSF had done in the past. "It’s time to back up a whole lot of words with actions. “Letters to fans are not a substitute," Molly Levinson, a spokeswoman for the women players, said in a statement. Until FIFA equalizes the prize money that it awards to the men’s and women’s World Cup participants, it is incumbent upon us to collectively find a solution.”įIFA and the men's union did not immediately respond to requests for comment. "Finding a framework that works for everyone will require open and thoughtful conversations and sincere commitment from USMNT and USWNT players to come together. Soccer in negotiating a solution together that equalizes World Cup prize money between the USMNT and USWNT. To that end, we have invited the players and both players’ associations to join U.S. “We need our men’s and women’s national teams to come together and re-think how we’ve done things in the past. “We see an opportunity to create change,” Parlow Cone wrote. USSF President Cindy Parlow Cone sent an open letter Friday making the request, which called for the men’s national team to allow the USSF to reallocate a portion of FIFA’s World Cup payments to the federation to the women’s team. Soccer Federation asked the unions of the women’s and men’s national teams to agree to equalize FIFA's World Cup prize money on their own.