The U.S. Soccer Federation and the USWNT Players Association on Monday agreed to a Memorandum of Understanding to extend the Collective Bargaining Agreement through to and at least March 31, 2022. The CBA includes a no-strike and no-lockout provisions.

The MOU also ended the USSF-backed National Women’s Soccer League allocation system, starting with next season. That means that the USWNT players won’t have any restrictions as to the league in which they play, according to the USWNTPA.

“Players who choose the NWSL will sign directly with the NWSL/NWSL club and will be employed by the NWSL, therefore becoming members of the NWSLPA,” a USWNTPA statement said.

The USSF stated it was hopeful that an agreement would be reached prior than March 31.

“While we hope and believe that CBA negotiations will be completed much sooner than March 31, 2022, we wanted to ensure we had sufficient time to reach an agreement,” the organization said in a press release. “Under today’s agreement, U.S. Soccer will no longer pay the salaries of any USWNT players to play professionally in the NWSL, which had been the case since the beginning of the league. Today’s agreement demonstrates that U.S. Soccer and the USWNT can and will continue to work together for the good of the game.”

U.S. Soccer again encouraged the U.S. men’s national team and the USWNT “to come together around one table to agree on a path forward that benefits everyone and drives progress for the future of our game. This includes our joint priority of equalizing FIFA World Cup prize money. Only together can we achieve that aim.”

The USWNTPA said that “we remain committed to good faith negotiations, but we will ensure that our players and our fans know when USSF is misrepresenting what is happening in our discussions.”

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.