U.S. Women's team files wage- discrimination vs. U.S. Soccer

Five members of the World Cup Championship team-- including stars, Hope Solo, Carli Lloyd, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, and Becky Sauerbrunn-- have filed a wage- discrimination action against the U.S. Soccer Federation with Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Hope Solo said, "In this day and age, it's about equality. It's about equal rights. It's about equal pay. We're pushing for that. We believe now the time is right because we believe it's our responsibility for women's sports and specifically for women's soccer to do whatever it takes to push for equal pay and equal rights. And to be treated with respect." Carli Lloyd also said, "I think the timing is right. I think we've proven our worth over the years. Just coming off a World Cup win, the pay disparity between the men and the women is just too large. We want to continue to fight. The generation of players before us fought. And now it's our job to keep on fighting."

Among the numbers cited in the EEOC filing: The women would earn $99,000 each if they won 20 friendlies, the minimum number they are required to play in a year. But the men would likely earn $263,320 each for the same feat, and would get $100,000 even if they lost all 20 games. Additionally, the women get paid northing for playing more than 20 games, while the men get between $5,000 and $17,625 for each game played beyond 20.

The pay for playing in the World Cup is also greatly disparate. The U.S. women received a team total of $2 million when it won the World Cup last year in Canada. Yet when the men played in the World Cup in Brazil in 2014, the team earned a total of $9 million despite going just 1-2-1 and being knocked out in the round of 16. Hope Solo said, "We are the best in the world, have three World Cup championships, and the men get paid more to just show up than we get paid to win major championships."

A group of players led by Abby Wambach filed a complait in Canada about the artificial turf playing surface, noting the men's World Cup is played on natural grass. After the women won the World Cup with a 5-2 victory over Japan in the final, the turf issue arose again during the USWNT Victory Tour when a game in Hawaii was canceled because the turf was deemed unsafe.

Former U.S Soccer Player, Landon Donovan tweeted out about this issue as well as Presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton. These women have won far more championships then the Men's National Team, yet still get treated like they are worth nothing. There were never a lot of fans that would go cheer on the WNT but these women took the country by storm, filling up stadiums and selling out of tickets. These women are very inspirational and are not afraid to fight for what they deserve.