Judge sets trial date for May in US women's soccer action

The judge in the case of the women's football team of the United States set the trial date of May 5, 2020, an accelerated deadline that could see the candidacy of the team for equal pay get lost in preparations for next summer's Tokyo Olympics.

The date, set Monday by Judge R. Gary Klausner of the US District Court for the Central District of California, is at least six months earlier than the players and US Soccer, their employer and the defendant, had asked. The players and US Soccer, which manages the national team and pays the salaries and bonuses of its players, had sought to postpone the trial until later in the year in order to avoid both the Olympic tournament and the conclusion of the national championship players. seasons.

Instead, Judge Klausner set a date 11 weeks before the opening match of the women's Olympic tournament. The United States still have to qualify for the Games, but most think it's a formality: the team, the reigning World Cup champion, has reached five of the six Olympic finals and has moved on with the gold medal four times.

Twenty-eight members of the US group of players, including all of the team's best-known players, are plaintiffs in the class action lawsuit filed in March, just months before the team goes to France to defend the World of Women. The cup was won in 2015. In their pursuit, the players claimed to have been victims of "institutionalized sexist discrimination", which had an impact on their wages and working conditions, but also on the way in which they went to the matches and hotels where they slept.

The action, which could cost the federation millions of dollars in arrears, was the most recent and most significant escalation of the team's debates in years: it is paid less than its male counterparts by the US Soccer, the government in power. body for sport in the United States.

Even before the team won its second consecutive World Cup title in July, its players used the tournament stage to garner public support for their cause. When the Americans defeated the Netherlands in the final on July 7, supporters of the Stade Lyonnais chanted "Equal pay!" Before the awards ceremony. When the team was honored three days later during a runway parade in New York, the song was repeated.

A spokesman for the players said Monday that the team was "eager to go from the front"With a trial, but there is still a chance that the parties can resolve the lawsuit by May. The players and the federation held mediation sessions in New York last week to find common ground, but these discussions quickly failed, resulting in statements of anger from each party.

Judge Klausner's schedule may, however, spark further discussion. Despite the failure of last week's mediation sessions, players said they were open to new proposals and US football said in its statement that "we are not afraid in our efforts to continue the discussions".

A resolution that avoids a trial might be suitable for both parties, albeit for different reasons. The players, while expressing their confidence in their case, have yet to prove it in court and the fight has already cost a lot. The federation may be even more eager to put the fight for pay equity behind it; it took public relations to fight in the case, and more recently, the case was rejected some of his own sponsors.