Women's national soccer team 'outraged' by Canada Soccer funding cuts

Canada celebrates a goal by Christine Sinclair during second half soccer action against Nigeria during the national team celebration tour at Starlight Stadium in Langford, B.C., Monday, April 11, 2022. Canada tied Nigeria 2-2. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

Members of Canada's women's national soccer team say they're feeling "outraged" and "deeply disrespected" by Canada Soccer after receiving news of "significant cuts" to the program for 2023.

As first reported by TSN, the Canadian Soccer Players' Association, which represents Canadian women in soccer, is calling for adequate funding or a change in leadership at the governing body, calling the lack of support this year "an unacceptable burden to put on the shoulders of our players."

"If Canada Soccer is not willing or able to support our team, new leadership should be found," the players said in a statement. "We are committed to do whatever it takes to create public awareness of this crisis and to force Canada Soccer to start to support the national teams properly." 

This comes five months before the start of the Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, set to kick off on July 20. But as players prepare for the tournament, they say they've had to cut training camp days, full camp windows, the number of players and staff invited to camps and limit the support for national youth team. The players also say they've been told the national team will not play a home game before the World Cup.

The men's team also released a statement on Friday in support of the women's team, saying Canada Soccer's use of funds is "unclear and cloaked in secrecy."

The statement from the men's side also referenced Canada Soccer's ties to a private company called Canada Soccer Business (CSB). A TSN investigation last July revealed that Canada Soccer has a multi-year contract with CSB, giving up media and sponsorship rights of both national teams in exchange for a guaranteed annual fee of $3 million to $4 million. This means that much of Canada Soccer's revenue gets diverted to CSB.

"We know that through this financial and other mismanagement, Canada Soccer is claiming that it does not have the funds necessary to provide the Women's National Team players the working conditions and games they need to prepare for the 2023 Women's World Cup," the men's team said. "That is outrageous and calls for an immediate and urgent response."

Two Canada Soccer sources told TSN that the national federation is grappling with extensive cuts across both the men’s and women’s programs.

"Canada’s national teams have never been more successful, or attracting more corporate dollars," the players said. "Yet despite these steps forward, we are still stuck asking the same question... where is the funding?"

Both national teams have enjoyed significant success in recent years, and the players say soccer in Canada has never been so popular. The men's team qualified for the World Cup last year for the first time in 36 years, while the women's team won gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

But the players say a lack of adequate funding "threatens to reverse the progress we've made as a soccer nation and to send us back to obscurity."

"The national teams cannot afford to be the only ones fighting for our success any longer. Enough was enough a long time ago," the players said.

In a statement Friday evening, Canada Soccer said it plans to meet with the women's national team in Orlando on Saturday morning and touted that pay equity "is at the core of our ongoing player negotiations."

"We want to get this resolved, for both of our national teams, and for soccer in Canada," the governing body said.

The time is now, we are taking job action. pic.twitter.com/QbVbhTcdDU

— CanadianSoccerPlayers (@PlayersCanadian) February 10, 2023

A message from #CANMNT 🍁 pic.twitter.com/1SA4L1oWk8

— Alistair Johnston (@_a_johnston) February 10, 2023

Canada Soccer Statement. pic.twitter.com/FfKf2So3PW

— Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) February 11, 2023