Saturday 9 May 2020 08:31, UK
The United States women's football team have filed an appeal after a district court decision dismissed their claims for equal pay.
They suffered a setback to their high-profile case against their federation when the court dismissed the players' claims that they were underpaid in comparison with the men's national team.
District Court Judge R. Gary Klausner insisted the world champions were paid more on both a cumulative and an average per-game basis than their male counterparts, who failed to qualify for the last World Cup in 2018.
However, the women's team have pledged to continue their fight, and the team's spokesperson confirmed on Friday they will challenge the ruling.
"Equal pay means paying women players the same rate for winning a game as men get paid," said Molly Levinson, the players' spokesperson.
"The argument that women are paid enough if they make close to the same amount as men while winning more than twice as often is not equal pay," Levinson said.
The players had been seeking $66m in damages under the Equal Pay Act.
Klausner's ruling, however, does allow the players' claims that they do not receive equal treatment when it comes to travel, training, housing and other areas to go to a trial set for June 16.
It comes a week after Joe Biden, the Democrat candidate for President, threatened to withdraw funding to US Soccer if they refused to back down over the issue.
The women's national team beat the Netherlands to claim their fourth World Cup title last summer, and chants of "Equal Pay, Equal Pay" could be heard, helping to ensure the pay issue has been prominent ever since.
The USA national team's long-running feud with US Soccer has been a very public and bitter battle with athletes and celebrities, from Billie Jean King to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rallying around the women's cause.
Last month, US Soccer president Carlos Cordeiro resigned over language used in a court filing suggesting women possess less ability than men when it comes to soccer.
The language prompted an on-field protest by players, who wore their warm-up shirts inside out to obscure the US Soccer logo prior to a game, and a critical response from several of the team's commercial sponsors.
