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U.S. Soccer agrees equal pay deal for men's and women's teams
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U.S. women's soccer team celebrate after winning the FIFA Women's World Cup in Lyon, France, July 7, 2019. /CFP

U.S. women's soccer team celebrate after winning the FIFA Women's World Cup in Lyon, France, July 7, 2019. /CFP

The U.S. men's and women's national soccer teams will receive equal pay under an agreement announced by the U.S. Soccer Federation on Wednesday, following years of pressure from female players.

The move makes the federation the first in the world to equalize World Cup prize money awarded to its men's and women's teams.

The deal stipulates that players from both teams "pool and share" the otherwise unequal prize money paid by Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) for participation in their respective World Cups.

For non-World Cup tournaments, players from "both teams will earn an equal amount of the total prize money paid when both teams participate in the same competition."

The terms also include "identical compensation for all competitions, including the FIFA World Cup, and the introduction of the same commercial revenue sharing mechanism for both teams." 

The United States women's team have won four Women's World Cup titles and four Olympic gold medals. They are chasing a third consecutive Women's World Cup title after winning the finals in 2015 in Canada and 2019 in France. They last won the Olympic gold in London in 2012.

(With input from AFP)

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