A historic day for sport in the United States. The Stars and Stripes Football Federation has signed an agreement with the association of players of the US national team to guarantee equal pay, establishing a global standard on the two collective agreements, which will be in force until 2028. A further step forward compared to what was done in February, with the agreement between Us Soccer and the players of the women’s national team for a settlement agreement of 22 million dollars (just under 20 million euros) concerning pending payments dating back to March 2019, plus 2 million to be allocated for an end-of-career fund.
Equal compensation
Now, the federation and the two national representatives of the United States are looking to the future, placing women’s wages on an equal footing with men’s wages. Only the ratification of the two collective agreements for the definitive implementation of the agreement is awaited. Collective agreements primarily provide for equal pay between the members of the senior national teams, both men and women. For friendlies, identical attendance and performance fees will be paid, based on the outcome of the matches and the grade of the opponent faced. For official competitions, including the World Cup, the same. A part of the prize pool for participation in the World Cup will be shared: the men who participate in Qatar 2022 and the women involved in Australia-New Zealand 2023 will receive an equal percentage of the collective prize pool paid by FIFA for participation in the two competitions. Same thing for the men’s 2026 and women’s 2027 World Cups.
Revenues and benefits
For other competitions, the collective agreement ensures that both teams have an equal amount of the expected cash prize. The commercial and sponsorship revenues will also be divided equally between the two national teams, while the Federation will grant athletes a share of box office receipts for home games, plus a bonus for games that will be sold out.
Other benefits include: childcare, a pension plan, equal treatment with regard to playgrounds and training fields, for hotel accommodations, for the staff available to the two national teams, for charter trips. , for the safety of the working environment, for parental leave and for serious and documented injuries, including in terms of mental health. The new agreements will cover a period including two World Championships (both men and women) and two Olympics, as regards the main international events in which the US national team aims to take part with both teams.
Historic day
“This is a truly historic moment,” said Cindy Parlow Cone, president of Us Soccer. “These deals have changed the game forever here in the United States and have the potential to change the game around the world.” Us Soccer and the athletes, both women’s and men’s national team, have re-established their relationship with these new deals and are leading us into an incredibly exciting new phase of mutual growth and collaboration as we continue our mission to become the sport of pre-eminence in the world. United States. I am grateful for the commitment and collaboration of the men’s and women’s national team and I am incredibly proud of the hard work that has led to this moment. All those who care about our sport should share this pride as we look forward to working together to make football grow for future generations ».