Following the U.S. Soccer Federation’s settlement of an equal pay lawsuit with players from the U.S. women’s national team in 2022, the organization reached a second, previously undisclosed financial settlement with former USWNT head coach Jill Ellis, who had threatened litigation over being paid less than her men’s national team counterparts, multiple sources familiar with the deal told ESPN.
The settlement came in the wake of USWNT players settling their equal pay lawsuit against the USSF in February 2022 for $24 million. Three months later, the U.S. Women’s National Team Players Association, the union that represents USWNT players, successfully negotiated a landmark collective bargaining agreement with the USSF in which the players were paid equitably with those on the USMNT.
Around this time, Ellis threatened to sue the USSF if it didn’t compensate her further for her time as head coach of the USWNT, which lasted from 2014 to 2019 and included two World Cup titles.
Sources told ESPN that there was resistance among some members of the board of directors to reach a settlement with Ellis, especially given that after her resignation as USWNT…
