When the U.S. women’s soccer team won the 2019 FIFA World Cup in Paris, they did so to chants of “equal pay!” from the mostly international crowd. Back home in the United States, the world-renowned women’s team was fighting for equal pay. While the concept of equal pay for equal work is not novel or new, until now, the actual achievement of it was.

Several years ago this column examined some of the inequities in professional soccer compensation between the U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) and the U.S. Men’s National Team (USMNT). At that time, the women’s club was suing the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) alleging institutionalized gender discrimination under the Equal Pay Act. The lawsuit, which sparked international discussion on pay equity in sports, claimed that the discrimination affected not only the compensation paid to female players but also their playing, training and travel conditions.