USA's progress to last 16 at Qatar World Cup earns women £5.4m in prize money

USA’s victory over Iran not only guaranteed them a place in the knockout rounds of the World Cup, but also won their women’s team a pay day unlike any they have seen.

Progressing to the last 16 in Qatar secured $13 million (£10.8 million) in prize money for USA, and that figure will be shared equally among the men and their four-time world champion female counterparts.

In America, the women’s national team has been far more successful and is more high profile than the men, but until now the players have earned far less.

In September, though, both squads made history when they signed a collective bargaining agreement which saw US Soccer become the first football federation to equalise World Cup prize money between their men’s and women’s sides.

The ground-breaking agreement was only made possible in February, when the women’s team’s six-year equal pay fight with US Soccer finally ended after the players agreed to a $24 million (£20 million) settlement with the federation – a third of the amount they originally sought in damages.

The new agreement stipulates that major tournament prize money will be pooled together and shared equally among both squads (with 10 per cent pocketed by US Soccer).

This World Cup in Qatar was the first opportunity for that to be put into practice and the men’s progress to the knockout phases on Tuesday guaranteed the women a $6.5 million (£5.4 million) share of prize money. Remarkably, that is more money than they earned by winning the last two women's World Cups.

They won a total of $6 million for taking home the 2015 and 2019 World Cup trophies – tournaments that had prize pools of $15 million and $30 million respectively. For comparison, in Qatar the total prize money for the men’s tournament is set by Fifa at $440 million (£366 million) – nearly 10 times that of the last two women's tournaments combined. Thanks to the new agreement, that inequality has been rectified for US teams at least.

Alex Morgan, the USA striker and two-time world champion, was vocal in her support for the men’s squad on Tuesday night, posting “Let’s gooooo USA” to her 3.8 million Twitter followers. Team-mate Becky Sauerbrunn echoed that sentiment, posting, “And breathe! Let’s f---in’ go boys!!”" on her Instagram, before adding on Twitter: “Keep it going, USMNT.”

Their pay day could get even bigger if the men deliver. They will be the underdogs when they play the Netherlands on Saturday, but have the chance to reach the quarter-finals of the men’s World Cup for the first time since 2002, as well as up their payday to $17 million (£14.2 million) – $8.5 million (£7.1 million) for each team.