The United States women's national team will take their fight for equality to court.
A judge set a May 2020 court date for the USWNT's gender discrimination lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation, the New York Times reported Monday.
The timeline was earlier than either party expected.
"We are pleased with the expeditious schedule that has been set by the court and we are eager to move forward with this case," USWNT spokeswoman Molly Levinson said in a statement. "We very much look forward to the trial in May 2020 when the players will have their day in court. We have every confidence that these world champion athletes will get what they legally deserve — nothing less than equal pay and working conditions."
A trial in the USWNT players' pay equity suit is set to start May 5, 2020, a judge ruled today according to players' spokeswoman Molly Levinson. It is an aggressive timeline as the sides' proposed plan would've had the trial start in December 2020. Here is the players' statement: pic.twitter.com/lkfK2SY1ch
— Zach Zagger (@ZachZagger) August 19, 2019
The suit, filed by all 28 players on the 2015 world championship team in May, alleges the sanctioning body has for years engaged in "institutionalized gender discrimination," affecting everything from their pay, training and travel to medical treatment.
The federation responded to the suit a couple months after it was filed, claiming the men's and women's national teams are two separate entities with "different competitions, venues and countries at different times; have different coaches, staff and leadership; have separate collective bargaining agreements; and have separate budgets that take into account the different revenue that the teams generate."
Both sides met to try and find common ground on the issue last week, but those mediation talks reportedly broke down, which prompted a judge to schedule the trial.
The USWNT will enter court off its fourth World Cup title.
