When the U.S. women’s soccer team won the quarterfinals in 2019, one chorus rose on the field: “Equal wages!” For men and women. After two years and many court cases after the USA made a historic decision: the selected players will receive the same salary and will share FIFA bonuses equally.
A long-awaited turning point in a country where soccer is becoming increasingly popular among girls. And win for the stars and bands of female soccer stars, Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan in the lead, who years ago launched a fight for equal pay while recently getting the support of President Joe Biden who considers equal pay and wages for men. Women’s management priority.
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The London Championships was the last tournament to be dropped from the taboo in the awards pool. In Italy, women’s professionalism has recently become a reality (ANSA)
So far, US national team players have earned 40% less than their male counterparts. USA Football Association President Cindy Barlow Kohn commented, “No other country has done this before. We have to be proud, it truly is a historic step.” In fact, the United States is not the first country to set equal pay for female and male players. Norway, Australia and the Netherlands have already taken steps forward in this regard. But the United States was the first to decide on the fair distribution of FIFA awards after long negotiations with the men’s national team that eventually had to give up. Although the American men’s team is in fact inferior to the women and has not yet achieved significant goals, the rewards set for men at the international level are still much higher. Example: The national team that will win the next World Cup in Qatar will receive $42 million. If the US men’s team makes it to the Round of 16, it will receive $13 million, more than three times what the women’s team earned by winning the tournament in 2019. The decision to divide FIFA bonuses equally by the American Football Association is valid until 2028 and will cover The next four World Cup finals. “Until FIFA established the same prize money for men and women, the only option we had was an agreement between us,” the president explained.
The gap between athletes’ and sportsmen’s earnings is an issue that has been debated for years in many sports. The pioneers of the fight were the tennis players of the United States who in 1973, during the reign of the great Billie Jean King, took the final prize equation at the US Open. It took 28 years for another Grand Slam tournament, the Australian Open, to make the same decision in 2001. In 2007 it was Wimbledon’s turn and a few weeks later Roland Garros.
The torch of battle was carried by the Williams sisters. And it was Serena, along with veterans Pam Shriver and Billie Jean, who attacked Inter Milan this year for the big difference, more than half, between the prize money awarded to the winner of the men’s tournament, 836,355 euros, and the women’s. One. , 332,260. The three American champions launched the idea of ​​a consortium to buy the Italian Women’s Open and put an end to the inequality even at the cost of moving it to another city.
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