Hope Solo still refuses to ‘bow down’ to U.S. Soccer Federation

Hope Solo’s story is still the same 10 years later.

In the upcoming Netflix “Untold” sports series, “Hope Solo vs. U.S. Soccer” — which premieres Sept. 3 — the former goalkeeper is steadfast in her stance that the U.S. Soccer Federation had ulterior motives for terminating her contract in 2016 — and had her exiled from the team.

At the time, U.S. Soccer disciplined Solo for what it called “conduct that is counter to the organization’s principles” after the star goalkeeper called Swedish players “a bunch of cowards” following a loss to them in the quarterfinals of the 2016 Olympics.

In the documentary, Solo and Rich Nichols, her legal counsel in 2016, said she was being punished for her fight for equal pay.

In March 2016, Solo and four players — Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan, Carli Lloyd, and Rebecca Sauerbrunn — filed an equal employment opportunity complaint for workplace discrimination, citing sex-based wage discrimination, against the US Soccer Federation.

Solo’s fight started after the U.S. women’s national team won the 2015 World Cup, and she was awarded the Golden Glove.

“In 2015, I knew that I found something out that I shouldn’t have found out,” Solo said in the documentary. “But at that moment, I had no idea that perhaps I had made an enemy. A year later, I was fired.

“They said ‘she was a poor sport,’ but really I think it was, I was getting into the money of U.S. Soccer.”

Solo was trying to get a home loan when she discovered that she had no working contract.

Her attempts to reach the players’ association went unanswered.

“I was told, ‘You’re asking questions beyond your pay grade. Just shut up and play,’” she recalls.

Solo claims the U.S. women’s soccer team was told they were not allowed to communicate with her — and they listened.

“It was a way for the federation to make me feel completely removed,” she said, ” …So I think these women are cowardly and controlled by the federation.”

The following declined to interview directly or through representation for Solo’s documentary: Mia Hamm, Abby Wambach, Megan Rapinoe, Morgan, Lloyd, Julie Foudy, Briana Scurry, Heather O’Reilly, Heather Mitts, Cat Whitehill, Meghan Klingenberg, Jill Ellis, Ashlyn Harris, Stephanie Cox, Kate Markgraf and Ali Krieger. 

“I was hurt, I felt betrayed by a lot of people. I don’t think people knew how dark of a time it was for me,” Solo said. 

She never got a farewell game, which is a tradition in U.S. soccer.

Solo sued the federation separately in August 2018, alleging violations of the federal Equal Pay Act and sex status discrimination.

That case has not progressed to trial.

Solo, who is considered arguably the greatest goalkeeper of all time, played for the U.S. team from 2000-16 and won a World Cup and two Olympic gold medals. 

She was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2023.

“Sitting here today, I refuse to bow down to the federation and these players. I am ready to tell the truth about what it was really like throughout my time on the U.S. team,” Solo said.

To this day, she disapproves of the U.S. women’s soccer team’s $24 million pay discrimination settlement. 

It seems clear that Solo doesn’t have a relationship with most, if not all, of her past teammates.

“It’s been very difficult getting people to interview for this project,” director Nina Meredith said.

In the documentary, Solo looks back on her illustrious career and the highs and lows of her personal life — including a domestic violence arrest in June 2014, which was later dropped.

It also covers Solo’s 2022 arrest on suspicion of DWI when police found her passed out behind the steering wheel of her car with the vehicle’s engine running and the two children in the backseat.

She was ordered by a judge to attend an alcohol treatment program, pay a fine and serve a license suspension.

Solo takes responsibility for her past in the documentary.

“I made a bad decision, a bad mistake and it’s something that I’m going to have to answer to my kids later in life,” she said of her 2022 arrest.

“It’s something I will never live down.”