Adidas Announces Equal Bonuses for Men's, Women's World Cup Winners

On International Women's Day and the same day players on the U.S. women's national team sued the U.S. Soccer Federation for equal pay, Adidas announced all of its athletes will be rewarded equally for winning the World Cup.

The brand's official Twitter account posted a statement Friday from executive board member and head of global brands Eric Liedtke along with the phrase "equal pay for equal play." 

"We believe in inspiring and enabling the next generation of female athletes, creators and leaders through breaking barriers. Today we are announcing that all Adidas athletes on the winning 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup team will receive the same performance bonus payout as their male peers," it read.

The U.S. women who filed the federal discrimination lawsuit are seeking damages, including back pay. The lawsuit alleges ongoing "institutionalized gender discrimination" and compares the salary of the U.S. women's national team to the men's, per Anne M. Peterson of the Associated Press.

Peterson also points out the women's and men's U.S. national teams have incomparable dollar-to-dollar salaries because of separate collective bargaining agreements.

"At the heart of this whole issue, we believe that it's the right thing," U.S. women's national team star forward Megan Rapinoe said, per Peterson. "We believe that there has been discrimination against us.

"And while we have fought very hard and for a long time, whether that be through our CBA or through our players association, putting ourselves in the best possible position that we can to get the best deal that we can, we still feel that we don't have what we're trying to achieve, which is equality in the workplace."

While that lawsuit is specific to 28 players on the U.S. women's national team, Adidas' proclamation includes all of its female athletes from any participating countries.

The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup will begin June 7 in France.