Megan Rapinoe compared to Lionel Messi for wage inequality

The pay gap between men's and women's soccer is abysmal. While men are signed multimillion dollar contracts, women are much inferior and even in some countries it's still not professional. In that sense, the American soccer player Megan Rapinoe, winner of the FIFA Ballon d'Or in 2019, said on Tuesday that she does not claim to earn "the same salary" as the star Lionel Messi, after her request to end economic inequality against same task due to gender issues. 

"What we fight for is for equal investments, equal opportunities, the same funds and resources for the team. I do not ask for the same salary as Messi, that is not the reality", said the captain of the US team in an interview with Radio Montecarlo, in the preview of a match against France. Rapinoe's one of the standard-bearers of the feminist struggle worldwide and that's why she called for "equal opportunities from the creation of youth programs".

"If I can have the same youth program, the same marketing programs, then we can start talking about the growth of women's football ... We have seen it for four or five years with the investments that have been made, the level of clubs and players has increased. The 2019 World Cup was a perfect example. And it was because we made a lot of noise!", he continued in his request.

Megan Rapinoe's against racism

Finally, Rapinoe, a top scorer in the 2019 World Cup in France with six goals and also a champion with her team, asked that "everyone" get involved in the fight against racism and not only because of "black athletes", nor are they "only women" in the fight for gender parity.

"It isn't only black players who have to talk about racism, not only gay players who have to talk about homophobia, not only women who have to talk about pay inequality. We are all responsible", closed the American forward.