Before their final match of the SheBelieves Cup, the USWNT hid the U.S. Soccer crest on their warmups to protest sexist court filings in the equal pay lawsuit.
The battle between the USWNT and the U.S. Soccer Federation is heating up.
U.S. Soccer has been slammed with criticism this week after filing court documents that argue that the U.S. women’s national team is paid less than the U.S. men’s national team because women’s soccer requires less skill and is less demanding then men’s soccer. The backlash came from fans, players, and even major sponsors, including Coca-Cola and Visa.
On Wednesday, the USWNT used their final match of the SheBelieves Cup, to lodge their most overt protest yet.
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Their blue warmup jerseys were turned inside out, hiding the U.S. Soccer crest, and then all of the players on the roster were present for the pre-match team photo. The USWNT players’ union tweeted the photo with the caption: “Unity. 4 stars only. Who’s with us?”
The protest comes while the USWNT is suing U.S. Soccer for $67 million in damages in a legal battle over equal pay. The team was already winning the battle of public opinion, but the recent court filings have shifted the momentum to face the women’s team even more. This on-the-field protest sent a strong message to the federation: the women’s national team won’t go down quietly.
UPDATE: In the final moments of Wednesday night’s match, U.S. Soccer president Carlos Cordeiro released a statement apologizing for “the offense and pain caused by language in this week’s court filing.”
The protest took place on Wednesday night before a match between the U.S. and Japan. With a 3-1 victory, the USWNT claimed the 2020 SheBelieves Cup. This will be one of the final tournaments before the USWNT travels to Japan for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.