National team players respond to "disturbing" Canada Soccer statement

Canadian men’s and women’s national team players are calling out their governing body of Canada Soccer once again.

In a joint statement from the men’s and women’s national teams, players are asking for further transparency from the upper echelons of the country’s soccer management.

The statement also directly addressed an article released yesterday by TSN investigative reporter Rick Westhead, detailing the root causes of a lengthy wage dispute from both the men’s and women’s national teams.

Much of the complications seem to stem from the lack of clarity around the national federation signing of a 10-year deal in 2018 with a third-party operation called Canada Soccer Business, who handle much of the national team’s marketing and licensing rights.

Most notably, Canada called off a men’s friendly match against Panama last month, with the players on strike.

“As a united group of Canada’s National Team players, we seek full transparency from Canada Soccer. We call for an investigation by Sport Canada of Canada Soccer’s governance practices, and of the circumstances by which Canada Soccer entered into its agreement with Canada Soccer Business,” the players wrote in a joint statement released by plenty of them on Wednesday. “Moving forward, we call for the members of Canada’s National Teams to be properly consulted in key Canada Soccer decisions impacting the National Teams.”

Statement from the players of the Canadian Women’s and Men’s National Soccer Teams pic.twitter.com/dcbCdSJOif

— Christine Sinclair (@sincy12) July 13, 2022

Both the men’s and women’s teams are in the midst of a World Cup preparation: the men for the 2022 tournament in Qatar, while the women are now qualified for the 2023 Women’s tournament after a perfect group stage at the CONCACAF W Championship. Canada’s women’s squad faces Jamaica in tomorrow’s semifinal at 7 pm PT/ 10 pm ET.

Canada Soccer indirectly addressed the TSN article yesterday, in a statement released on their website.

“Canada Soccer recently announced it will begin releasing regular updates, informing media, fans and Canadians of matters pertaining to Canada Soccer’s National Teams, and the state of soccer in Canada. The renewed efforts are aimed at increasing communications during some of the most important months in the organisation’s history,” the statement’s opening remarks read.

However, it does not appear that the players felt that Canada Soccer’s statement was satisfactory.

“The Men’s and Women’s National Team players are committed to moving this sport forward, not backward, and to working together toward fair agreements that will achieve equity in working conditions and compensation between the Men’s and Women’s National Teams,” the players’ statement continued. “However, for that to be possible, immediate steps must be taken to address the serious issues raised by Rick Westhead’s article.”

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