In July 2015, the women’s US soccer team won the FIFA World Cup against Japan making them the first country to win three FIFA Women’s World Cup titles.  This was a huge victory celebrated by millions across the United States.  However, there was an unfair catch to the win.  The team was largely underpaid compared to the men’s team when they won the World Cup.  Jeffrey Kessler, a lawyer who represents the women’s team said in an interview, “The US Soccer Federation made a profit of $16 million on the women’s team.  It had a loss on the men’s team.”  The World Cup championship match for the women scored the best ratings ever on a soccer game out of men’s and women’s combined.  It also drew more viewers than any other top flight men’s sport such as basketball.  Also, the men’s team was ranked 11^th in its own World Cup competition in 2015.

The women filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the federal agency that establishes equal pay law.  Kessler also said that the women are paid between 28% and 62% less than the men depending on how their match goes.  Men earn as much as $17,625 and no less than $5,000 even if they lose.  On the other hand, women are paid $4,950 even if they win every game, and they are only paid for the first twenty exhibition games they play each year.  The men are paid for each game no matter how many exhibition games are played.  The men’s team earned $9 million in the 2014 World Cup for losing in the round of 16, while the women made $2 million when they won the 2015 championship.  One of the captains of the women’s team said, “Recently, it has become clear that the Federation has no intention of providing us equal pay for equal work.”  The Federation said that they supported the women with every issue they faced in the past but will deal with the issue of pay with the upcoming contract negotiations at the end of this year.  The EEOC will now investigate the complaint and try to reach an agreement with the soccer federation.