Former USWNT coach Jill Ellis received a separate equal pay settlement

After US Soccer settled an equal pay lawsuit with players from the U.S. women’s national team in 2022, the organization reached a second, previously undisclosed financial settlement with former USWNT coach Jill Ellis, who threatened to sue over being paid less than her. . Their counterparts on the men’s national team, multiple sources familiar with the deal told ESPN.

The settlement came on the heels of the USWNT players settling their equal pay lawsuit against the USSF in February 2022 for $24 million. Three months later, the US Women’s National Team Players Association, the union representing USWNT players, successfully negotiated a landmark collective bargaining agreement with the USSF in which players were paid equal wages to those in the USMNT.

Around this time, Ellis threatened to sue the USWNT if it did not compensate her more for her time as USWNT coach, which lasted from 2014 to 2019 and included two World Cup titles.

Sources told ESPN that there was resistance among some board members to reaching a settlement with Ellis, especially given that after her resignation as USWNT coach, Ellis was paid a total of $442,598 by the USSF to be a “former ambassador/key employee,” according to the tax filing. USSF for fiscal year 2021.

But sources said it was the desire to avoid another public battle over equal pay — in this case with a well-respected and successful coach — plus the fact that insurance paid for part of the settlement, that worked.

Sources told ESPN that in the spring of 2022, the USSF board allowed its legal representatives to settle for more than $1 million. Another source told ESPN that the final settlement exceeded $1 million. Despite the confidential nature of the settlement, there is no explicit record of the payment to Ellis on the union’s IRS Form 990 for fiscal year 2023. Multiple sources indicated that the settlement amount was included in items related to legal expenses. For USSF.

The following year, Ellis took over as president of the NWSL’s San Diego Wave.

“We do not discuss employment matters,” a US Soccer spokesperson told ESPN. Ellis had no comment.

That Ellis earned significantly less than her male counterparts during her time as USWNT coach is not in dispute. For fiscal year 2020, which covered the period April 1, 2019, to March 31, 2020, Ellis earned $746,623 in total compensation, with base pay of $516,352. She also received a $202,000 bonus for leading the USWNT to the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the second World Cup victory under Ellis’ supervision.

In contrast, for fiscal year 2020, USMNT head coach Gregg Berhalter received $1,329,492 in total compensation, of which $1,222,710 was in base pay.

The disparity was most pronounced early in Ellis’ tenure. For the 2016 fiscal year, which ran from April 1, 2015, to March 31, 2016 — a period that coincided with her first Women’s World Cup win — Ellis’ compensation totaled $327,332, including a $90,000 bonus.

During the same period, then-NFL head coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s compensation totaled $3,076,594. Klinsmann also served as head coach of US Soccer during this period.

It is unclear how much impact the settlement with Ellis would have on subsequent negotiations with national team coaches. IRS Form 990 for fiscal year 2024, Vlatko Andonovski’s final year as USWNT coach, has not yet been issued. Fiscal year 2023 saw his total compensation reach $448,485.

Forbes reports that current USWNT coach Emma Hayes’ salary is around $1.6 million, which is similar to what Berhalter earned during the final year of his contract. According to the USSF’s most recent IRS Form 990, during fiscal year 2023, Berhalter earned $2.3 million, which included a $900,000 bonus for qualifying the USMNT to the 2022 World Cup.

One NFL source said Hayes’ compensation was what was needed to keep her away from Chelsea in the Women’s Super League. But other sources, all of whom requested anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss union compensation issues publicly, said the Ellis settlement had an impact on the negotiations.

The issue of national team managers’ compensation has come up again in the wake of Mauricio Pochettino’s appointment as USMNT coach last month.

Sources told ESPN that Pochettino’s base salary will be $6 million per year, with private donors receiving some of that amount. Chelsea will also pay Pochettino just over half of the $14 million he was owed over the remainder of his contract when he left the Premier League club earlier this year.

This has led to questions about whether Hayes’ compensation will be adjusted to match Pochettino’s. But multiple union sources told ESPN that is not the case. There is no association bylaw and no board policy requiring USMNT and USWNT coaches to be paid the same wage.

As for Ellis, while she remains in her position as Wave president, she currently finds herself at the center of a separate legal matter relating to her time with the club.

In July, following accusations of creating a toxic work environment, Ellis filed a defamation lawsuit against Brittany Alvarado, the team’s former video and creative director. This was followed by a lawsuit filed by five former Wave employees against the club and the NWSL alleging multiple forms of discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation and wrongful termination. Ellis is not named as a defendant in the new lawsuit, although she is mentioned throughout.