United States Soccer Federation and union for United States women’s national soccer team have agreed to a short-term deal that will keep the players from going on strike but give them new freedom of movement during their club careers.
The Memorandum of Understanding, or MOU, agreed to by US Soccer and the USWNT Players Association, will delay the expiration of the team’s current contract to March 31, extending the no-strike and no-lockdown terms .
But it will also remove provisions that require USWNT players to play in National Women’s Soccer League, the original domestic league founded by US Soccer. The USWNT’s current CBA, scheduled to expire on December 31, has placed a limit on the number of top-level USWNT players allowed to sign with clubs outside of the NWSL.
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In 2021, that limit is three, meaning only three USWNT players under contract with US Soccer can sign with clubs in Europe and the rest are required to play in the NWSL. In return, US Soccer paid the players’ NWSL salaries up to a maximum of $77,500.
Now that those limits are gone, starting with the 2022 season, USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski will no longer have to go through the years-old process of selecting the players he wants to league. pay to play in NWSL. In the past, the NWSL has released the roster of US Soccer players in January, and next month will be the first month since the establishment of the NWSL without such an announcement.
The memorandum of understanding formalizes a direction both USWNT players and NWSL clubs are headed as the league allocation loses its appeal. As NWSL clubs have dramatically increased their pockets with new owners, they have been able to match and even exceed the NWSL salaries US Soccer offers. For example, in January, USWNT stars Crystal Dunn and Lindsey Horan both chose to sign directly with the Portland Thorns to a three-year deal, skipping US Soccer for that reason. Last week, the Chicago Red Stars announced they had signed all of its USWNT players directly.
In addition to preventing players from signing contracts in Europe, the allocation of federations to USWNT players sometimes has the unintended consequence of boxing for players in the NWSL. A prominent example is Christen Press, who sought reassurance from US Soccer that she would be transferred from the Chicago Red Stars to one of her favorite teams in 2018. Instead, she was transferred to a team she was she doesn’t want to play, Houston Dash, and due to her allocation status, that means Dash doesn’t have to pay her, Dash doesn’t want to give up the right to contract her.
US Soccer founded the NWSL in 2012 and has directly managed the league until this year.
Notably, now that all USWNT players will sign with their NWSL club instead of with US Soccer, they can all officially join the NWSL Players Association, the fledgling union is in the process of negotiating the first CBA with NWSL. That means USWNT players can play a more direct role in driving changes in the league.
Sources said USWNT players had hoped a contractual agreement with the NWSL would be struck before the MOU went into effect, but negotiations between the federation and the NWSLPA have yet to reach an agreement.
The federation has been embroiled in its share of the controversies, especially this year when five male coaches – representing half of the league’s teams – were fired or resigned due to alleged inappropriate behavior. However, the MOU expanding the club options of USWNT players is not a response to these problems. Sources told ESPN from 2019 that players are pushing for the next CBA to be able to sign directly with any club they want without the involvement of US Soccer.
The USWNT and US Soccer players’ unions are in the process of negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement, but have since November hashed the terms of the MOU as a deterrent before the CBA expires this month, according to sources close to the talks.
US Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone said last week that she hopes a brand new CBA will be in place by early 2022.
