US Soccer splits $16M World Cup prize equally between men and women, delivering on landmark pay equity deal

US Soccer is distributing $16 million in FIFA World Cup prize money equally between the men’s and women’s national teams. It’s the first major payout under the collective bargaining agreements ratified in 2022, and it turns what was once a lawsuit-fueled battle into actual direct deposits.

The US Men’s National Team earned the $16 million by reaching the round of 16 at the 2026 FIFA World Cup before being eliminated. Under the equal-pay framework, that money doesn’t just stay with the men. It gets split down the middle.

How the money breaks down

Here’s the math. US Soccer retains 20% of the total prize money, which works out to $3.2 million. The remaining 80%, or $12.8 million, gets divided equally between eligible players on both the men’s and women’s rosters.

With 26 players from each team qualifying for a share, that’s 52 players total. Each one is set to receive approximately $246,154.

The key detail: it doesn’t matter that the women’s team didn’t play in this particular tournament. The policy is designed so that players from both teams benefit from the success of either side on the world stage. If the USWNT wins prize money at their World Cup, the men get a cut too.

Years of legal battles made this possible

This didn’t happen because someone had a nice idea in a boardroom. The equal-sharing policy was the direct result of years of advocacy from the US Women’s National Team, including a landmark lawsuit against US Soccer that became one of the most high-profile labor disputes in American sports history.

The women’s team had long argued that despite generating comparable, and sometimes greater, revenue and attention than the men’s team, they were paid significantly less. US Soccer at one point argued in court filings that the men’s team required more skill than the women’s, a claim the federation later apologized for.

The resolution came in 2022 with new collective bargaining agreements that fundamentally restructured how both teams get paid. The CBAs created the equal-sharing mechanism for FIFA prize money and aligned other compensation structures across both programs.

The men’s team exiting in the round of 16 is, from a competitive standpoint, a disappointing result for a squad playing on home soil. But the CBA doesn’t have a performance threshold beyond simply earning prize money from FIFA. You make the tournament, you earn FIFA’s payout, and the split kicks in.

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