The Jamaica women’s national team has announced that it will refuse to play until it receives the compensation that the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF) owes them.

Jamaica's women's national soccer team made the #FIFAWWC for the first time ever in 2019.

They apparently were never paid for their effort, and now they're refusing to play or train. https://t.co/BHkfZO09Pt

Should footballers stick to soccer or should they use their platform to promote their beliefs? Would your answer be different if the footballer was trying to promote a particular religion, clothing line or political view, or if those beliefs differ from your own? How about speaking up for social issues? Where do you draw the line?

Juan Mata, for one, doesn’t think an athlete should be pigeonholed into only talking about his or her sport. 

ESPN has just officially secured the exclusive worldwide broadcasting rights to the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). The deal, which gives ESPN the rights to both the regular season and playoffs, allows ESPN Player subscribers to broadcast NWSL matches in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and parts of Asia.

On the heels of the announcement of Kate Markgraf as the first general manager of the USWNT, the USSF has stated it will be preparing a bid to host the 2027 Women's World Cup. The 2027 bid has been hinted at over the past year, with president Carlos Cordeiro mentioning a potential bid at a USSF meeting in February.

U.S. Soccer also reaffirmed they intend to bid for the 2027 Women's World Cup in the final section.

Frank de Boer, manager of Atlanta United, has become the talk of the town after calling equal pay “ridiculous.” 

In an interview with the Guardian he said:

There’s no more convenient way to earn a surfboard than by winning at the Teen Choice Awards, so Lionel Messi and Tobin Heath will be disappointed to have lost out on Choice Male Athlete and Choice Female Athlete, respectively, at the 2019 award show in Hermosa Beach, California, on Sunday night.

But soccer still got its moment in the spotlight when Taylor Swift was presented with the inaugural Icon Award at the show — presenting her surfboard was USWNT star Alex Morgan.

With the mediation between the USWNT and United States Soccer Federation on the horizon, it appears the USSF has sought out extra support when attempting to dispute the USWNT equal-pay suit.

Alex Morgan wants a three-peat. 

The ESPN+ exclusive four-part series “Alex Morgan: The Equalizer” concluded with the USWNT star striker saying she’s not planning to retire anytime soon. The 30-year-old has her eyes on more medals and an unprecedented third Women’s World Cup title.

The USWNT Victory Tour pay became yet another contentious issue between the Women’s World Cup champions and the U.S. Soccer Federation this week. According to the Wall Street Journal, U.S. Soccer was going to pay the U.S. players a lower rate for a match it added to the USWNT Victory Tour. 

Apparently not everyone is on board with the USWNT equal-pay suit. In an interview with the news site TooFab, former USMNT player Jermaine Jones openly criticized the action, stating that some women are making more money in the NWSL than men in MLS, while also claiming that the NWSL is league where “you can say that you suck” and you still get paid.

Jones' comments stem from the fact that members of the USWNT receive a guaranteed extra bonus of around $60,000 for playing in the NWSL, an incentive to draw American talent to the league.