Jul 19, 2026
The U.S. men's national team crashed out of the 2026 World Cup in the round of 16, dismantled 4-1 by Belgium in Seattle. A deflating end to a home tournament — and one that stung more after FIFA reversed a red-card ban to clear striker Folarin Balogun to play, only for him to barely factor. The defeat was devastating, but the players walked away with a $16 million check from FIFA to soften the blow.
Now, half of that money is going to the U.S. women's national team — a squad that didn't take the field. Each USWNT player will collect exactly $246,153.85, the same amount headed to every USMNT player on the roster.
Here's how the split works
FIFA pays prize money to national federations, not players, and lets each one divide the pot. Under a collective bargaining agreement U.S. Soccer signed with both national teams in 2022, the federation pools its men's and women's World Cup prize money and splits it evenly.
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That's how a $16 million men's payout becomes $246,153.85 a head. U.S. Soccer keeps 20% off the top — roughly $3.2 million. The remaining $12.8 million is divided in half: $6.4 million to the 26 men and $6.4 million to the 26 women.
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When does the USWNT get paid?
The women’s team won't be paid right away.
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The USWNT still has to qualify for the Women’s World Cup — it faces El Salvador on Nov. 27 in a win-and-in Concacaf quarterfinal — and its 2027 roster won't be locked until next spring.
Until then, the $6.4 million sits in an interest-bearing account, and only the players who make that roster collect. The interest splits across all 52 World Cup players, the 26 men from this summer and the 26 women next year.
The men will get paid relatively quickly. The CBA requires U.S. Soccer to pay out the men's shares within 31 days of receiving the money from FIFA.
A fight that took six years
The arrangement traces back to one of the longest labor battles in American sports. The USWNT filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against U.S. Soccer in 2019, seeking back pay and equal treatment. The case was dismissed, appealed, and finally settled in 2022 for $24 million — but only on the condition that new CBAs establishing pay parity got signed.
Those agreements, which run through 2028, made U.S. Soccer the first federation in the world to pool and split World Cup prize money between its men's and women's teams. Prize money was the sticking point the women had pushed hardest on, since the FIFA men's tournament dwarfs the women's. The 2026 men's tournament carried a record $871 million in total FIFA payouts; the 2023 women's tournament paid the USWNT just $1.87 million for its round-of-16 finish.
U.S. Soccer also splits its World Cup apparel and sponsorship revenue evenly between the teams. The players collectively take 10% of that commercial revenue, or 15% once it clears $75 million.
The men's cut is lopsided for now
When the USWNT plays the 2027 World Cup in Brazil, the men will collect an equal share of whatever the women earn — but FIFA's women's payouts are far smaller, so the reciprocity is lopsided.
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The USWNT's round-of-16 finish at the 2023 Women's World Cup earned $1.87 million from FIFA. Under the earlier CBA, U.S. Soccer took a 10% cut and split the rest evenly — about $841,000 per player pool, roughly $32,350 a head. That's what the men took home from the women's last tournament. Against the $246,153.85 the women get from the men this year, the flow runs nearly 8-to-1 in their favor.
The men's players' union agreed to all of this in 2022, and has taken its smaller share without objection.
Fan reaction to the pay split
Plenty of fans didn't fully understand the split until the Belgium loss attached a dollar figure to it, though the arrangement is four years old. The split went viral across social media, drawing all kinds of hot takes.
Critics, for the most part, focus the debate on revenue. They note that the men's team brings in far more through tickets, broadcasts and merchandise. The discussion around pay equity has also become far more politically charged, making it a harder sell now than in 2022, with the women's 2023 exit fresh and the politics around it louder.
Either way, it's settled through 2028. Both teams pool their World Cup earnings and split them evenly, whoever brings in the check.
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Rudro is an Editor with Moneywise. His work has appeared on Yahoo Finance, MSN, MSN Money, Apple News, Samsung News and the San Diego Union Tribune.
