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Judge Dismisses U.S. Women’s Soccer Team’s Claim of Unequal Pay

The USWNT plans to appeal the decision.

A judge has ruled that the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team presented insufficient evidence to bring claims of unequal pay in a lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation, BuzzFeed News reports. District Court Judge R. Gary Klausner granted U.S. Soccer’s motion for summary judgment Friday and dismissed the argument made by the 28 members of the team, the keystone of their suit, in addition to dismissing a claim of discrimination based on differences in field materials men and women play on. The four-time World Cup champions’ claims of discrimination relating to their traveling and training conditions will proceed to trial. A spokesperson for the women’s team said the players planned to appeal the decision. The suit has brought turmoil to the professional soccer community, with the U.S. Soccer’s president resigning weeks ago after his organization argued in legal filings that female athletes are less skilled than their male counterparts and therefore should be paid less.