Pay gap: US women's football team battle for more than World Cup

If you are anything like us, you will be getting super excited for the Women's World Cup, which starts in June.

But the current World Champions, the US, are heading to France with more than just a tournament to win.

That is because all 28 members of the team are taking legal action against the US Soccer Federation - the company who look after all football in the US - over how much money they are paid.

They say they have been treated differently to the men's national team. They say they're not being paid as much and are asking to be paid equally. They also say they've haven't been or allowed the same working rights because of their gender.

This is an issue about something called the gender pay gap.

What is the difference between equal pay and the gender pay gap?

The gender pay gap and equal pay are two different things.

The gender pay gap is the difference in average earnings between men and women.

Equal pay is paying men and women the same amount to do the same job and has been a legal requirement since 1970.

The USA Men's team didn't qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

When comparing the two teams, members of the men's team earned an average of $263,320 each (around £208,000) for playing in 20 exhibition games in a year. But the women's team players could earn a maximum of $99,000 (that's about £78,000) for playing in the same number of games.

Another reason they are unhappy is because the women's team often play on artificial turf, which players believe is more likely to cause injuries, while the men played on the fake turf just once. The women felt that they were given less prestigious stadiums to play in and poorer facilities to train on or in.

Why are female and male footballers paid differently anyway?

In the UK's top leagues, female footballers in the Women's Super League are paid much less than their male counterparts in the Premier League.

The clubs say the pay gap is justified because the women's game brings in smaller crowds, and generates less money through advertising and television deals.

However, in the US, the women's team play in front of bigger crowds and it is thought more people watch them on the TV than they do the men's side.

They are also a much more successful team. The men's side's best finish was third place in 1930, whereas the women's team have won the World Cup three times!

Is it the same in other sports?

The pay gap used to be very common across the sporting world.

According to one survey in 2017, Neymar - who plays for Paris St Germain - earned the same as 1,693 female football players in France, Germany, England, the US, Sweden, Australia and Mexico combined.

Serena Williams says Billy Jean King is one of the reasons women receive the same amount of prize money as men.

Serena Williams, who recently backed the US football team and their fight for equality, says former tennis player Billy Jean King, who campaigned for equality in her sport in the 1970s, is the reason she is able to play tennis professionally today.

When King won the US Open in 1972, she received $15,000 less than the men's champion and vowed not to return the following year unless the prize money was equal.

In 1973, the US Open became the first major tournament to offer equal prize money for men and women. Yet equal prize money at Wimbledon didn't come in until 2007 - so 34 years later.