#GOALS

Following their World Cup win, Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan are continuing their fight for pay equality—more than proving they’ve earned their stripes.

- Por Brooke Bobb

BOUNCING OFF THE STANDS of the Stade de Lyon was the chant that shook the cultural consciousness: “Equal pay! Equal pay!” The pay disparity between male and female sports figures has been recognized for some time, but the women’s World Cup brought it to new prominence. In recent years, a male soccer player on the U.S. national team could earn up to $13,166 per victory in a nontournament game, while a similarly situated female player would make only $4,950. The pot of prize money awarded to victorious male World Cup players last year was $400 million; this year, the female champions split $30 million.

Months before cocaptains Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan led the U.S. Women’s Soccer team to their fourth World Cup championship, they and 26 of their teammates filed a lawsuit against the United States Soccer Federation for these disparities. After returning home from France, they were at once basking in a jubilant celebration—a ticker-tape parade down the canyons of New York, strangers on the street putting babies in their arms—and steeling themselves for an upcoming mediation with the USSF.