The U.S. Soccer Federation has scored its most important goal yet.
On May 18, the Federation, the U.S. Women's National Team Players Association (USWNTPA) and the U.S. National Soccer Team Players Association (USNSTPA) settled on historic collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) that achieve equal pay for international men and women players.
"The two CBAs, which run through 2028, achieve equal pay through identical economic terms," a statement, posted to the USA Soccer website, read. "These economic terms include identical compensation for all competitions, including the FIFA World Cup, and the introduction of the same commercial revenue sharing mechanism for both teams. The agreements will ensure that U.S. Soccer's Senior National Team players remain among the highest paid in the world."
U.S. Soccer will now become the first federation in the world to equalize FIFA World Cup prize money awarded to the U.S. Men and Women's National Teams for partaking in their own World Cups.
The agreement comes nearly three months after Megan Rapinoe and several other U.S. Women's National Team stars—Hope Solo, Carli Lloyd, Alex Morgan and Becky Sauerbrunn—won their gender discrimination lawsuit against U.S. Soccer, reaching a $24 million settlement.
Following the legal win, Rapinoe made a Feb. 22 appearance on Today to speak out about the massive victory, saying, "In the end it came together. For us as players, I'm just so proud of the way we stuck together and really just kind of put our foot down. This is a huge win for us."
The three-time Olympian added, "For us this is just a huge win in ensuring that we not only right the wrongs of the past but set the next generation up for something that we could only have dreamed of."