• Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan will give 1% of their salaries to charity • They join Mats Hummels and are the first female players in Common Goal

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Two members of the World Cup-winning USA women’s team of 2015 have signed up to Juan Mata’s initiative for footballers to donate 1% of their wages to charity.

Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan have joined Manchester United’s Mata and the Bayern Munich defender Mats Hummels in pledging money to Common Goal, which supports global football initiatives for disadvantaged children.

Juan Mata out to transform football and the world one per cent at a time Read more

“Myself and Alex felt it was important that women’s football was represented from the outset,” said Rapinoe, a midfielder with Seattle Reign in the National Women’s Soccer League. “We’re really looking forward to building the movement with Juan and Mats from here.”

Rapinoe and Morgan each have more than 120 caps and have played in two World Cup finals, suffering defeat by Japan in 2011 before beating the same opponents four years later. Morgan, a striker with Orlando Pride, was recently on loan at Lyon.

“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,” Morgan said. “I’m thrilled to join Common Goal at this early stage and hope we can inspire many others to become part of the movement.”

Mata is aiming to put together an XI of professional footballers for the project, which is overseen by streetfootballworld, a group of more than 120 local charities.

“In Europe, we’ve just experienced a record-breaking transfer window,” Hummels said. “I think some fans are starting to feel alienated from the game in light of these kinds of developments. But as more players join Common Goal, we hope to show the world that football still has its heart in the right place.”