USMNT vs. USWNT: which team earns more money?

US women's soccer players surpass the men's national team in sporting merit, popularity and titles. The U.S. women's national soccer team has won four Olympic Games and three World Cups to the men's team's none. But USMNT players win more. This has been the great claim of the US National Women's Soccer Team in recent years.

In the United States, soccer players are paid from various sources. The federation pays the salaries of the internationals' clubs. They then have a second salary from their playing and winning bonuses with the national team and they also receive income from their commercial and advertising agreements. The minimum annual salary for men is $56,250, while the maximum for women is $46,200.  The maximum salary for men is $70,250  and the minimum for women is $16,538.

Who is the highest-paid USWNT player?

The current highest-earning player is Alex Morgan, who earns around one million dollars (893,000 euros). One of the best in the world is far from what the best earn. Her million euros is light years away from the almost 100 million dollars (almost 90 million euros) earned per year, for example, by Cristiano or Messi.

The wage gap between men and women is still huge in soccer. An example: Carli Lloyd, Golden Ball in 2015, earned in the same year, in which the United States won the Women's World Cup, 366,000 dollars (326,000 euros), while Manchester United's Alexis Sanchez is earning 350,000 pounds (392,000 euros) a week.

After the World Cup in Canada in 2015, the Americans initiated a claim to improve their salaries. In 2016 they got a raise after five internationals, Alex Morgan, Carli Lloyd, Megan Rapinoe, Becky Sauerbrunn and Hope Solo, filed a federal lawsuit, but it still left them far behind their male counterparts, earning 40 percent less than the men.

Last March 8, coinciding with International Women's Day, the U.S. women's national team again filed a lawsuit against the U.S. federation, accusing the federation of gender discrimination and demanding equal pay with the men's national team. This is the current claim of the U.S. women's national team, a possible rival of Spain in the round of 16 and defending the title at the World Cup in France.