Shannon Boxx, Christie Pearce Rampone, Linda Hamilton headline National Soccer Hall of Fame induction ceremony

This week’s announcement of the U.S. Soccer Federation’s landmark agreement to offer equal pay to the women’s and men’s national soccer teams – including sharing in World Cup prize money – came at the perfect time ahead of the National Soccer Hall of Fame’s Class of 2022 induction ceremony.

Gender equality advocate and tennis legend Billie Jean King was quick to recognize the efforts of the women who helped pioneer this effort, including 2007 Hall of Fame inductees Mia Hamm and Julie Foudy, both of whom also played on the winning 1999 U.S. World Cup team. And this Saturday, they’ll be joined in the Hall by fellow ’99 teammate Christie Pearce Rampone, along with former USWNT members Shannon Boxx and Linda Hamilton, when this year’s inductees are honored in Frisco, Texas.

The women make up of half of this year’s HOF class, which also features players Clint Dempsey and Marco Etcheverry, and referee Esse Baharmast. Former U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo was voted into the Hall of Fame this year, but her induction will be delayed a year while she participates in an in-patient treatment program following her arrest on a DWI charge in late March.

The journey to the Hall of Fame was decidedly different for each woman, beginning with Linda Hamilton, who was one of two candidates elected from the Veteran ballot (along with Bolivian MLS star Etcheverry). The 52-year-old Hamilton, who’s served as head coach of the Southwestern University women’s soccer team since 2015, played 71 full internationals for the USWNT between 1987 and 1995. She was a key defender on the U.S. team that won the first FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1991 and played in the 1995 World Cup, where the U.S. finished third.

“It means a lot to me as a defender,” said Hamilton,