February 24 – Former United States international goalkeeper Hope Solo has slammed the landmark equal pay settlement between the national women’s team and the US Soccer Federation as “heartbreaking and infuriating”.
The $24 million deal agreed a few days ago brought to an end a protracted legal dispute between the two parties but Solo insists it was not the huge win for the women that was being trumpeted.
The controversial and outspoken Solo, who represented her country for 16 years and won the 2015 women’s World Cup, is still pursuing her own lawsuit citing gender discrimination. She says the promise of equal pay and “backpay for a select group of players” was insufficient.
“Read the fine print. ‘Contingent upon the negotiation of a new collective bargaining agreement’,” Solo wrote on Twitter. “It doesn’t exist yet and is not guaranteed.
“If the players had ever been successful in negotiating an equal CBA, there would’ve been no reason to sue the federation in the first place.”
“This settlement is not a ‘huge win’. It’s heartbreaking and infuriating.”
Solo said Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan, two of the fiercest voices during the entire saga, knew full well the settlement wasn’t a victory.
“They both know this is not a win. They know it’s an easy out of a fight they were never really in,” wrote Solo, who ran unsuccessfully for US Soccer president in 2018.
“The equal pay case against US Soccer I filed on behalf of the team long before the team sued, still stands and I remain committed to fighting for all players – past, present and future.”
The new deal, she added, “guarantees nothing to the next generation” of USWNT stars and that those players “who set this fight in motion will not benefit from the selfishness and inequality of this settlement.”
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