Five members of the U.S. women's national football team -- Carli Lloyd, Becky Sauerbrunn, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe and Hope Solo -- have filed a "federal complaint charging U.S. Soccer with wage discrimination," according to Andrew Das of the N.Y. TIMES. Attorney Jeffrey Kessler said that the players "will contend" that the USWNT is the "driving economic force for U.S. Soccer ... even as its players are paid far less than their counterparts on the men's national team." In their complaint, which was submitted to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the players "plan to ask for an investigation of U.S. Soccer." Citing budget figures released last month by U.S. Soccer, Kessler said that the USWNT "would contend that they earned as little" as 40% of what players on the USMNT earned last year, despite the women's team being the reigning Women's World Cup and Olympic champion. The five players are the only ones to sign the complaint, but they indicated that they "were acting on behalf of the entire women's team, saying they are all employees of U.S. Soccer." The move will "thrust their team into a debate roiling in several sports, notably professional tennis, about equal pay for men and women." By raising the issue of compensation of the USMNT, the women's players will put U.S. Soccer "in a difficult position." The organization has CBAs with both teams, but the "financial terms differ widely" (N.Y. TIMES, 3/31).
GERMAN BONUS: REUTERS' Karolos Grohmann reported the German FA (DFB) said that Germany's players will each receive a bonus of €300,000 ($341,370) "if they win Euro 2016," announcing the same scale of "top-up payments on offer when the tournament was last played in 2012." The DFB said that, despite this year's tournament having more teams and an extra knockout round, "the bonus levels would be the same as for Euro 2012, where Germany lost in the last four." Players will receive €50,000 ($56,895) for reaching the last eight, €100,000 ($113,790) for a spot in the semifinals and €150,000 ($170,685) for reaching the final (REUTERS, 3/31).
