A decade ago, members of the U.S. women’s national team began their fight for equal pay. The team had won four World Cup titles and four Olympic gold medals and was ranked number 1 in FIFA for six years. Meanwhile, the men didn’t even qualify for the 2017 World Cup – and the women only received a $110,000 bonus for their win, while the men would have pocketed more than $400,000 each.
This was all part of a six-year legal battle involving soccer’s biggest stars such as Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe. Things got ugly at times. The U.S. Soccer Federation argued in its filing that the pay disparity was justified because the women “are not doing the same work that requires the same skills.” [and] Effort.” Since then, US Soccer has renewed its leadership.
In 2022, the two sides settled the lawsuit for $24 million. This year, the men’s and women’s teams also signed new collective bargaining agreements with US Soccer. The CBA stipulated that if both teams qualified for the World Cup, FIFA prize money would be divided equally between male and female players, regardless of which team won it.
This split was first triggered later in 2022, when the men won $13 million from a round of 16 exit at that year’s World Cup, and in 2023, when the women earned $1.87 million from an exit at the same stage of their competition.
At the moment, of course, the men are only competing at the 2026 World Cup. They were eliminated in the round of 16 earlier this week – a heartbreaking defeat to Belgium after fans believed the team finally had what it took to progress. They still won $16 million, meaning each player – men and women – stands to win $246,153.85 each. That’s $16 million, with 20% earmarked for US Soccer and the other 80% split between 52 people.
Of course people have opinions. Equal pay is not as popular a cause as it is in 2022, and the anti-DEI brigades have come out forcefully. The Women’s World Cup doesn’t take place until 2027, so these viewers aren’t anticipating that the women are likely to win any prize money next year Also be divided. (In fact, the men’s money is held in an account and only paid out after the women have also played.)
It doesn’t help that the women’s team isn’t on the same winning streak as in the 2010s. (They’re still in second place, though.) Back then, women were doing well So so much better than the men that it was hard to argue that they shouldn’t benefit from US Soccer’s overall revenue. With the disappointing result for women in 2023 still fresh in people’s minds, the voices of those who oppose this regulation are becoming louder and louder.
But US soccer is not the same as global soccer. Compared to the rest of the world, women have been crucial to the growth of the sport of soccer in the United States. Female players are among the biggest stars in the sport. US Soccer’s agreement compensated the women for their contributions to the growth of the game as a whole. The pay gap has been partly a FIFA problem – and FIFA recently committed to increasing its prize money for women’s football. This means that if women go very far next year, men will also benefit enormously.
It’s a win-win situation – even without a World Cup victory (yet).
Emma Hinchliffe
Emma.grind@fortune.com
The Most Power Women Daily newsletter is Assets’s daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world. Subscribe here.
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Parting words
“It was really about feeling the same appreciation for doing the same work. For me, it was that simple. I was very, very happy when we got it and very, very happy for what it seemed to do for other women.”
– Emmy Rossum, on Call her dadremembers her fight for equal pay Shameless
https://fortune.com/2026/07/09/world-cup-usa-us-soccer-men-women-prize-money-split-equal-pay-fifa/
