USWNT Pay Discrimination Trial Postponed

The much-anticipated trial between the U.S Women’s National Team (USWNT) and U.S Soccer has been postponed until June 16th, as announced by Judge Gary Klausner. The decision was made due to continuous effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the operations of the courthouse where the trial was due to be held.

The lawsuit that took over the attention of US soccer fans, as well as soccer fans and bodies around the world, was originally filed last year by players of the USWNT, seeking over $66 million in reparations for being discriminated against with regards to payment compared to their US National team male counterparts whom compared to the USWNT are arguably less-successful in tournaments and achievements.

Filed under the Equal Pay Act, the Woman of US soccer claim “institutionalized gender discrimination” towards the USWNT. The United States Soccer Federation, however, was initially looking for the case to be dismissed completely, claiming that men and women perform “different jobs”, deeming the direct comparison of US soccer players of different genders on the same pay scale as irrelevant. The US Soccer Federation contends that there is no basis for a discrimination lawsuit, as the men and women of US Soccer should be viewed, and treated as two different entities.

There were many discussions taking place since March, during which both sides tried to reach some agreements on the principle of gender equality. Following by American soccer fans and worldwide soccer players and other athletes from both genders, the US Soccer Federation didn’t seem to do too much favors to itself.

Beyond some back and forth statements that kept changing from the US Soccer Federation, there were also embarrassing statements made by key members of the board, lawyers and other federation reps, which crated an outcry and even costed some jobs.The US Soccer Federation argued in response to the lawsuit that women have less ability than men in soccer. This because ability in the game of soccer is based on “the level of certain physical attributes such as speed and strength.”  The federation male lawyers also went on to claim in their written statements that playing for a Soccer male team “required a higher level of skill,” and they also said that “it wasn’t a sexist stereotype, but rather indisputable science.”

Lawyers of the US Soccer Federation last year questioned in depositions USWNT stars Carli Lloyd and Alex Morgan on whether they could beat boys at soccer. One attorney asked: Do you think you could be competitive against the senior men’s national team?” to which Lloyd replied: “Shall we fight it out to see who wins and then we get paid more?”

Following the US Soccer Federation’s sexist remarks, the backlash came not only from the USWNT. Major sponsors including Coca-Cola, Budweiser and Visa released statements condemning the Federation for its language, while many high-profile figures in America also criticized the filings.

In response to what USWNT Captain Megan Rapinoe called “blatant misogyny and sexism” shown by the US Soccer Federation, the USWNT protested at their She-Believes Cup match in Texas, by turning their warm-up shirts inside out for the duration of their warm-up and the singing of the national anthem- to hide the US Soccer Federation logo.  In a post-match interview, USWNT captain Megan Rapinoe said “You are not lesser just because you’re a girl. You are not better just because you’re a boy.”

US Soccer Federation President Carlos Cordeiro took office in 2018, and was busy trying to boost morale and rebuild confidence in the USMNT after the US men’s team failed qualifying for the World Cup.  Although many American Soccer players and staff say Cordeiro had good intentions, others claim he did not do enough to take over control from people that have been in the US Soccer Federation for too long, and have let the sexist approach and were resistant to change.

And on March, backlash from American soccer fans, sponsors and players alike caused US Soccer Federation President Carlos Cordeiro to resign, following a series of statements that were released, without the federation publically denouncing sexist statements, nor announcing intentions to fight gender discrimination.

Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber, who is also member of the US Soccer Federation board was amongst the high-profile figures in American soccer to come out against Carlos Cordeiro and the federation’s statements.  The MLS Commissioner issued his own statement saying: “I saw the media reports of U.S. Soccer’s recent filing, I was shocked and angry,” Garber said. “I expressed to the president of the federation in no uncertain terms how unacceptable and offensive I found the statement in that filling to be.”

Detaching MLS, America’s top-flight soccer league, and home to many of the USMNT players, Garber added: “Those statements do not reflect my personal view, nor do they reflect the views of Major League Soccer.”


In an interesting turn of events, a US Soccer Federation VP that sources say Cordeiro favored is Cindy Parlow Cone. Cone, a former USWNT midfielder stepped into office once Cordeiro resigned, and will remain in charge until a new candidate can be elected in February 2021. So something good did come out of this – the US Soccer Federation now has its first female president.