The U.S. women's national team has filed an appeal against a federal judge's ruling in U.S. Soccer's favor last year over the team's pay discrimination charges.
In May 2020, Judge Gary Klausner ruled that the USWNT could not prove that U.S. Soccer financially discriminated against them due to their gender.
Earlier this week, U.S. Soccer and the USWNT came to a settlement over working conditions, including flights, venue selection, support staff and hotel accommodations, paving the way for an appeal over equal pay.
What was said?
"This legal case is simple: for each win, loss and tie that women players secure, they are paid less than men who play the same sport and who do the same work; that is gender discrimination,” players' spokeswoman Molly Levinson said in a statement.
“A pervasive atmosphere of sexism drove this pay discrimination. We are extremely pleased to file our appeal of the summary judgement ruling, and look forward to presenting our case to the 9th circuit."
What happens next?
The appeal process is expected to be a lengthy one, and could last into 2022 or even 2023. U.S. Soccer has said it is willing to meet with the players to discuss an out-of-court settlement.
"Unfortunately, the USWNT has not accepted our offer or our long-standing invitation to meet to try to find a resolution unless U.S. Soccer first agrees to make up the difference between the Men's and Women's World Cup prize money, which is determined, controlled and paid for by FIFA," a U.S. Soccer statement said.
"Our request to meet still stands, and we hope the USWNT will accept our invitation very soon."
The USWNT's current collective bargaining agreement (CBA) expires at the end of 2021, and it is possible that a settlement to the dispute over their current CBA could be reached while negotiating their next one.