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Judge: U.S. women's soccer team subject to discriminatory working conditions

USA's players including forward Megan Rapinoe (C) celebrate with the trophy after the France 2019 Womens World Cup football final match between USA and the Netherlands, on July 7
The U.S. women’s soccer team celebrates winning the 2019 Women's World Cup in July. Photo: Franck Fife/AFP via Getty Images

The U.S. women's national team hailed a judge's ruling that they're paid less per game than the men's side as he granted them class status in their gender discrimination lawsuit against U.S. Soccer, the Wall Street Journal reports.

QuoteIt’s almost a validation of everything that we’re seeing. I think it’s a really positive step forward in this fight."
— U.S. soccer star Megan Rapinoe to the WSJ

Why it matters: Per the New York Daily News, U.S. District Court Judge R. Gary Klausner's ruling in Los Angeles on Friday "expands the case beyond the 28 players who originally brought the lawsuit to include all players who had been called up to camp or played in a game over a multiyear period."

  • While there's still a long way to go in the case, Klausner's remarks that the women’s side "has been paid less on a per-game basis than the U.S. men’s soccer team and suffered from inferior working conditions" offers some insight into the judge's considerations, WSJ notes.

The other side: The U.S. Soccer Federation has maintained that it's paid the World Cup champion women’s team more than the men’s national team in recent years.

Go deeper: Podcast: The equal pay fight for USWNT

Soccer