MIA HAMM

The U.S. women's national team's efforts to secure equitable pay finally came to fruition this week when the players reached a collective bargaining agreement with U.S. Soccer that gives them the same pay as their male counterparts.

U.S. Soccer's agreement with its men's and women's national teams for equal pay has its roots in the past while it looks toward the future.

Carli Lloyd scored a career-high five goals and the United States routed Paraguay 9-0 on Thursday in the national team’s first game since the Olympics.

The U.S. women’s soccer team is undoubtedly one of the best soccer teams on the planet, but long before there was Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan and Carli Lloyd -- there was Mia Hamm.

FILE - In this May 11, 2019, file photo, former first lady Michelle Obama speaks during an appearance in Atlanta. Obama and soccer star Mia Hamm are among those chosen for the 2021 National Women's Hall of Fame class announced Monday, March 8, 2021. (Photo by Paul R. Giunta/Invision/AP, File)WASHINGTON – Michelle Obama is knitting and thinking about retiring from public life. The former first lady says in a new People magazine interview that she picked up knitting needles to pass time during the coronavirus pandemic. Her new Netflix children’s food show, “Waffles + Mochi,” premieres Tuesday, and the Obama Presidential Center is under construction in Chicago.

FILE - In this May 11, 2019, file photo, former first lady Michelle Obama speaks during an appearance in Atlanta. Obama and soccer star Mia Hamm are among those chosen for the 2021 National Women's Hall of Fame class announced Monday, March 8, 2021. The Women's Hall of Fame induction ceremony is scheduled for Oct. 2, 2021. (Photo by Paul R. Giunta/Invision/AP, File)SENECA FALLS, N.Y. – Former first lady Michelle Obama and soccer star Mia Hamm have been chosen for the National Women's Hall of Fame as part of a Class of 2021 announced Monday that also includes former PepsiCo Chief Executive Indra Nooyi and retired Brig. The National Women's Hall of Fame inducts a new class every other year in Seneca Falls, the site of the first women's rights convention.

Actress Natalie Portman and venture capitalist Kara Nortman lead a group that will bring an expansion National Women's Soccer League team to the Los Angeles area in 2022. Then she and Nortman met Becca Roux, the executive director of the U.S. Women's National Team Players Association. The women also reached out to a local supporters group that has been campaigning to bring a team to Los Angeles. The group is partnering with the LA84 Foundation, a nonprofit formed after the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics that promotes youth sports. The official name of the Los Angeles club, and where it will play, are expected to be announced later this year.

NEW YORK Chelsea Clinton is extending her celebration of women to chapter books and the world of sports. Clinton's She Persisted in Sports: American Olympians Who Changes the Game will be published Sept. 22, the children's imprint Philomel Books announced Monday. The latest of Clinton's best-selling She Persisted" picture books will include sections on such prominent athletes as Wilma Rudolph, Mia Hamm, and Venus and Serena Williams. Also Monday, Philomel announced that a new series of chapter books will feature 80-page stories on women that Clinton and She Persisted illustrator Alexandra Boiger previously honored. Additional chapter books will include Meg Medina writing about Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and Renee Watson's biography of Oprah Winfrey.