As if the U.S. women’s national team wasn’t already gunning for global glory next summer, the stakes just got even higher.

The four-time women’s World Cup champions (1991, 1999, 2015, 2019) were utterly humiliated three years ago on an international stage that they have notoriously commanded for decades. The USWNT crashed out in the round of 16 of the 2023 World Cup, losing on penalty kicks to Sweden to mark the team’s earliest-ever exit from the tournament.

The squad may have won the Olympic Games the following summer under newly appointed manager Emma Hayes; however, reclaiming the podium of soccer’s most prestigious competition has remained top of mind.

The Stars and Stripes won’t mind the considerable increase in pay either. FIFA is reportedly planning to drastically increase the prize money for the 2027 Women’s World Cup, per Sky Sports News . Performance-based prizes will amount to $220 million for the 32 teams competing in Brazil, pending approval by the FIFA Council in December.…