Hope Solo still refuses to bow to the US Soccer Federation

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

In the upcoming Netflix sports series “Untold,” “Hope Solo vs. US Soccer,” premiering Sept. 3, the former goalkeeper maintains that the U.S. Soccer Federation had ulterior motives when it terminated her contract in 2016 — and left her off the team.

At the time, the U.S. Soccer Federation disciplined Solo for his “conduct contrary to the principles of the Federation” after the star goalkeeper called the 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 employment discrimination complaint under the Equal Employment Opportunity Act against the U.S. Soccer Federation, alleging gender-based pay discrimination.

Solo's struggle began after the U.S. women's national team won the 2015 World Cup and was awarded the Golden Glove.

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

“They said she was a sore loser, but I think she really was because I was making money in U.S. soccer.”

Solo was trying to get a home equity loan when she realized she didn't have a job contract.

Their attempts to reach the players' association remained unanswered.

“I was told, 'You're asking questions that are above your pay grade. Just shut up and play,'” she recalls.

Solo claims the U.S. women's soccer team was told not to communicate with her – and they listened.

“This is how the association wanted to make me feel completely detached,” she said. “… That's why I believe that these women are cowards and are controlled by the association.”

The following people declined to be interviewed, directly or through a representative, 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 and felt betrayed by a lot of people. I don't think people realized how dark that time was for me,” Solo said.

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

Solo filed a separate lawsuit against the association in August 2018, accusing it of violating federal Equal Pay Act and gender discrimination.

There was no trial in this case.

Solo, arguably the greatest goalkeeper of all time, played for the U.S. team from 2000 to 2016, winning a World Cup and two Olympic gold medals.

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

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

To this day, she disapproves of the $24 million settlement against the U.S. women's national soccer team for wage discrimination.

It seems clear that Solo has no relationship with most, if not all, of her former teammates.

“It was very difficult to find people to interview for this project,” said director Nina Meredith.

In the documentary, Solo looks back on her illustrious career and the ups and downs of her personal life – including an arrest for domestic violence in June 2014 that was later dropped.

It also covers Solo's 2022 arrest on suspicion of drunk driving when police found her unconscious behind the wheel of her car with the vehicle's engine running and her two children in the back seat.

A judge ordered her to attend an alcohol rehabilitation program, pay a fine and serve a driver's license suspension.

In the documentary, Solo takes responsibility for her past.

“I made a bad decision, a bad mistake, and I will have to answer for that later in life to my children,” she said of her arrest in 2022.

“This is something I will never forget.”