Judge Sets Trial Date for USWNT's Gender Discrimination Lawsuit

The USWNT brought the lawsuit against U.S. Soccer on March 8.

A judge has set the trial date for the U.S. women's national team's gender discrimination lawsuit against U.S. Soccer.

The trial regarding fair pay for the women's team will start–barring a settlement between the two parties beforehand–on May 5, 2020, which will be about 14 months after the suit was filed. The date will be a disappointment to both sides, which requested the trial begin later in the year and months after the completion of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. According to court filings, the players had proposed a Nov. 11 start, while U.S. Soccer proposed it begin Dec. 8. The scheduled date will instead conflict with preparations for the Olympics.

On March 8, 28 players filed the gender discrimination lawsuitregarding unequal pay and working conditions.

Last week, the mediation talks between both sides broke down. This came after the U.S. Soccer Federation hired two lobbyists to contest against the USWNT's claim of a pay gap shortly after a bill was introduced to require equal pay for Olympic and amateur athletes.

The USWNT is coming off its second consecutive Women's World Cup title, which marked its fourth all-time.