U.S. Soccer has hired two Washington lobbying firms to counter some of the U.S. women's national team's claims of gender discrimination, the federation has confirmed to Goal.
The news, which was first reported by Politico, will likely increase tension between the federation and the USWNT, which filed a gender discrimination lawsuit in March.
In the lawsuit, the USWNT claimed that U.S. Soccer "continues to practice gender-based discrimination against its champion female employees on the WNT in comparison to its less successful male employees on the MNT."
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The lawsuit will soon enter a phase of mediation as both sides attempt to avoid a drawn-out court case.