US Women's soccer team file wage discrimination over unequal pay

Five members of the US Women's national soccer team have accused the US Soccer Federation of wage discrimination.

The quintet, which includes World Cup winners Hope Solo, Carli Lloyd and Alex Morgan, filed a complaint to the equal employment opportunities commission on Wednesday on behalf of the entire team. 

According to their lawyer Jefferey Kessler, the players have asked for an investigation of the federation and argue that they earn around four times less than the members of the US men's team for the same job. 

The five, which also includes Becky Sauerbrunn and Megan Rapinoe, claims the women's team is the driving economic force for US Soccer.

Kessler said: "This is the strongest case of discrimination against women athletes in violation of law that I have ever seen."

The US women's soccer team are current Olympic champions and World Cup holders, and have enjoyed much more success than their male counterparts.

They have won three World Cups (1991, 1999, 2015) and four Olympic golds (1996, 2004, 2008, 2012). In contrast, the men team's most notable achievement was reaching the quarter-final of the 2002 World Cup.

Speaking to NBC's 'Today' programme on Thursday, Lloyd 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 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."

In a statement, US Soccer said: "While we have not seen this complaint and cannot comment on the specifics of it, we are disappointed about this action.

"We have been a world leader in women's soccer and are proud of the commitment we have made to building the women's game in the United States over the past 30 years."