Since the first FIFA Women’s World Cup, the pay gap between male and female soccer players has sparked numerous conversations and debates in the soccer community. According to Gender Pay Gap on the Soccer Field: A Sure Case for a Red Card by Martina Ernst and Jonas Puck, the average male player “[earns] 50 to 200 times” more than female players that play in the same level league. This statistic concerns fans of women’s soccer because their favorite players or sports’ inspirations are not being given equal treatment as male counterparts. Before 2026, the highest paid women’s soccer player was the Spanish athlete Aitana Bonmati, who is a 3-time Ballon d’Or recipient and 2023 World Cup winner, who was paid with only a 1.1 million dollar salary. Compared to the tenth highest paid male soccer player, Lamine Yamal, who is also Spanish and does not have any Ballon d’Ors or World Cups, Bonmati makes about 30 million dollars less in salary. It is evident how men’s soccer players make a superb amount of money for the same or less amount of accolades than their women counterparts. Fortunately, on January 22, 2026, significant actions were made that bring hope to resolving the pay gap issue.
One of the most famous women’s soccer players in the world, Trinity Rodman, has now become the highest-paid women’s soccer player in the world. Rodman won Rookie of the Year and the NWSL Championship at the age of 18, and played a vital role in the USWNT’s journey to winning Gold at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Rodman and the Washington Spirit signed a 3 year long contract, worth 2 million dollars yearly. Her contract also opened the doors for more players to receive higher salaries with the controversial High Impact Player Rule. For US soccer, this is a step in the right direction – as prior, Sophia Smith had the highest paying contract of $1 million. However, the process to Rodman’s contract was not easy in many regards.
Due to Rodman’s 1st contract expiring on December 31, 2025, the public grew doubtful that Rodman would stay on the Washington Spirit or even in the US. The process of US women’s professional soccer joining overseas teams such as Chelsea, Arsenal, and Olympique Lyon is not a new occurrence. Tobin Heath, 2x FIFA Gold Medalist for USA, had famously played for Manchester United and Arsenal in 2020-2022. Even Lindsay Heaps, FIFA Gold Medalist, joined Paris Saint-Germain FC at age 18, never having played for a true professional American soccer team at that point in her career. However, the reason players joining overseas teams is becoming an extreme problem today is because striking US talent such as Alyssa Thompson, Naomi Girma, and Emily Fox are leaving due to the wage difference between American and European female soccer. The NWSL was under a strict rule that teams and management could only spend 3.5 million on players’ wages. European Leagues like the Women’s Super League and Liga F do not have this limit on spending, allowing players to receive higher salaries than players on NWSL teams. Many players see joining European Leagues as an opportunity to reduce the male-female player pay gap for themselves since they are attempting to make the most amount of money they possibly can.
The US soccer community and the Washington Spirit did not want Trinity Rodman to become a part of the group of players who left the NWSL for European wages as she is “an inspiration to young girls across America,” said by Mike Senskowi, Rodman’s agent in an ESPN article titled “Trinity Rodman contract saga ends with record Spirit deal.” To ensure Rodman’s loyalty to the league, Washington had originally created a 4 year long contract, guaranteeing 1 million dollars annually. Even though Rodman agreed to the contract, the commissioner of the NWSL Jessica Berman rejected the contract due to a violation of the rules. The rejection extended the process for nearly 2 months longer. Within that time, fans grew worried about the idea that Rodman would leave the NWSL. Her loss would be detrimental as she is the face of the league and brings extreme popularity to the NWSL. Finally, on January 22, Rodman signed a contract binding her 3 more years to the NWSL, specifically the Washington Spirit, and making history as the highest paid women’s soccer player. It is hoped that with this new achievement in women’s soccer, other NWSL clubs will be inspired to pay higher salaries to their athletes than the ones previously held. The NWSL is attempting to make this thought come true, however, players find it controversial.
The High Impact Player Rule allows clubs to spend over 1 million dollars above the salary cap for high impact players. “NWSL Introduces High Impact Player Rule to Strengthen Talent Attraction and Retention” by NWSL Communications states high impact players are qualified by achieving many high ratings such as SportsPro Media Top 150 Most Remarkable Athlete, Top 30 in Ballon d’Or voting, or Top 40 in the Guardian Top 100 soccer players in the World. Players can also become classified as high impact players by playing minutes on the USWNT, being a NWSL MVP Finalist, and lastly, being selected on the End of the Year NWSL Best XI First Team. In hindsight, the rule seems great for the NWSL and players as it provides an opportunity for highly qualified and deserving players to receive higher wages. However, the NWSL commissioner, Jessica Berman, has gotten backlash over the rule.
The NWSL Players Association opposes this rule and even filed a grievance against it on January 14. Jeff Kassouf from ESPN stated the reason for the NWSL Players Association filing grievance was because it “ violates terms of the collective bargaining agreement and federal labor law.” The association would rather the rule remove the qualifications to “allow teams to spend how they choose on all players,” stated in “NWSLPA says ‘Rodman rule’ violates CBA, files grievance” by ESPN. The dispute has not been resolved.
Nevertheless, women’s soccer has a tremendous journey to go before it closes the pay gap between men and women. For example, Rodman would have to make 228 million dollars with her 2 million salary to equate what the highest male soccer player, Cristiano Ronaldo made in 2025. Even Christian Pulisic, an American soccer player on Milan AC, receives 3.8 million dollars more than Trinity Rodman, though he has never won a World Cup and won the Champions League once in 2020. It is alarming the difference in pay gap amongst the top male and female soccer players. One sport that can be used as a great example for equalizing pay between genders is tennis. At all four Grand Slams, men and women receive the same amount of money from the cash prize. Whilst soccer players do not receive profit from the games and tournaments they partake in but rather they earn salary through contracts, tennis having equal cash prizes for competitions is a great inspiration for the soccer industry to put in place policies to lessen the pay gap.
