US Men's National Team Throws Full Support Behind Women's Equal Pay Lawsuit Appeal

The women's national team initially sought £52.8m ($66m) in damages under the Equal Pay Act during their lawsuit against US Soccer.

The US women's team did manage to secure a partial deal back in April, which provided them with venue selection, charter flights, hotel accommodations and professional support staff.

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Now, players from the men's national team have once again thrown their support behind the women in an amicus brief filed on Friday.

The US men's team previously supported the women's case for equal pay before Klausner passed his verdict on the lawsuit in May 2020.

The players' endorsement for the women could provide a massive boost in their bid to have their case sent back to a district court and be heard by a jury.

The brief reads: "The United States Soccer Federation markets the United States men's and women's national teams under the slogan, 'One Nation. One Team.'

"But for more than thirty years, the Federation has treated the women's national team players as second-class citizens, discriminating against the women in their wages and working conditions and paying them less than the men's national team players, even as US Soccer has enjoyed a period of extraordinary financial growth.

"The Federation has never offered or provided equal pay to the women, and the district court's holding to the contrary cannot be squared with the facts."

The US women's team has achieved incredible success on the international stage and lifted an unprecedented four Women's World Cups.

The four-time Women's World Cup winners are currently in the semi-finals at Tokyo 2020 and will face Canada after beating the Netherlands on penalties.

The US men's team said that it is unfair that the women "must consistently achieve better outcomes" than them to achieve equal pay in the sport.

"A woman's rate of pay is not equal to a man's if the woman must consistently achieve better outcomes merely to get to the same place," they said.

"If the women had won fewer games, or if the district court had analysed a more representative period of the men's performance as a point of comparison, the per-game disparity would have been obvious, glaring and undeniable."

The men's side signed their collective bargaining agreement in 2011 amid the financial crisis at the time.

But the women's team signed their contract in 2017 after US Soccer's finances continued to improve, with the men arguing that their counterparts are due at "least triple the compensation."

They explained: "Given the Federation's dramatically improved financial circumstances, the women were due at least triple the compensation provided for in the men's agreement."