Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata hails women football stars for their 'courage' in supporting his Common Goal charity

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Juan Mata has hailed women football stars Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe for their 'courage' after they became the latest players to pledge support to the Manchester United midfielder's Common Goal charity.

World Cup winners Morgan and Rapinoe have signed up to give one per cent of their wages to the fund, joining Mata and Bayern Munich's Mats Hummels as the pioneers of a movement which aims to help under privileged people across the world.

Morgan and Rapinoe are high profile figures in the USA team but their earnings are relatively low in comparison to those of their male counterparts in Europe and Mata said: 'It takes courage to stand up and bring the movement to US soil for the first time. Fortunately, courage is something both Megan and Alex have in spades.'

Juan Mata has hailed women football stars for signing up to his charity Common Goal

Orlando Pride striker Alex Morgan has signed up to Mata's Common Goal charity 

Megan Rapinoe (right), pictured playing for the US national team, has also got involved

Mata joined forces with Bayern Munich's Mats Hummels to launch the Common Goal charity

Hummels, pictured left with Bayern team-mate Thomas Mueller, set up the fund with Mata 

Rapinoe and Morgan's donations will be pooled with that of Mata and Hummels. Their collective fund, steered by Berlin-based organisation streetfootballworld, will be used to support charities that use football to educate on everything from gender equality in USA to youth employment in Spain and peace-building in Colombia.

Midfielder Rapinoe, 32, who has 123 caps for USA, won the World Cup in 2015 and Olympic gold in 2012. She came out as gay in that year and has pioneered tirelessly for equal rights across all sports. 

'Common Goal is intended as an inclusive initiative, and myself and Alex felt it was important that women's football was represented from the outset,' said Rapinoe. 'We're really looking forward to building the movement with Juan and Mats. Sky's the limit at this stage.'

Mata hailed the women footballers saying: 'It takes courage to take Common Goal to US soil'

Morgan, a striker who has scored 74 goals in 128 games for USA, has emerged as a poster girl for the sport. 

She has been shortlisted for FIFA World Player of the Year and was one of the first women to appear on the cover of FIFA video games in 2015.

'As the global profile of women's football continues to grow, players like myself and Megan will have an increasing number of opportunities to use our status for good,' said Morgan. 

US star Morgan has signed up to give one per cent of her annual salary to Common Goal

'I'm thrilled to join Common Goal at this early stage and hope we can inspire others to become part of the movement.'

Germany international defender Hummels underlined the potential of Common Goal and the message it wants to get across. 

'In Europe we've just experienced a record-breaking transfer window. I think some fans are starting to feel alienated from the game in light of these kind of developments,' Hummels said. 

Rapinoe has also generously agreed to hand over one per cent of her wages to the charity 

'But, as more players join Common Goal, we hope to show the world that football still has its heart in the right place.'

Common Goal is a charity where players pledge a minimum of one per cent of their wages to a collective fund that is then allocated to football charities that create the greatest impact worldwide.