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Democratic Senator Introduces Bill to Put Pressure on Resolving US Women’s Soccer Equal Pay Fight


Many readers have likely heard that the US Women’s soccer team won the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup this past Sunday in France.  Prior to, and during the tournament itself, the issue of equal pay for these players was a major talking point.  (Remember, a lawsuit had previously been filed in relation to the equal pay fight by these players.  Currently, that lawsuit is still pending.)

Following Sunday’s win, a bill was introduced in Congress by West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin which proposed withholding any federal funds from being allocated for the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup unless the US men’s and women’s national soccer teams are paid equally.  (For those unaware, the US is cohosting the 2026 tournament along with Canada and Mexico.)  If this legislation manages to pass, that would put a significant amount of pressure on the US Soccer Federation to pay both the men’s and women’s teams equally or risk a potential catastrophic financial shortfall in trying to host the 2026 tournament.

With that being said, it might not even take passage of this bill to achieve equal pay for the players.  Currently, there is a wide range of attention (and criticism) on the fact that there is a difference in play among the players (notwithstanding the fact that the US women’s team has had a prolonged period of success while the US men’s team has struggled in recent years.)  I would suspect the equal pay latter will come to a head in the next few months, in part because there is to be a mediation set soon in regard to the equal pay lawsuit.  Stay tuned.


For additional information:  https://www.espn.com/soccer/united-states/story/3897533/senator-no-equal-payno-public-26-wc-funds

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