(Melbourne, Australia) The Canadian women’s soccer team confirmed on Friday that they have reached a provisional working agreement with Canada Soccer covering compensation for 2023, including scholarships for the ongoing Women’s World Cup.
In a statement from the team on social media, the tone was not celebratory, however.
“As the extent of Canada Soccer’s financial constraints were revealed, we were forced to choose between compensation and the funding required to run the necessary training camps,” the statement read.
“We had to choose between receiving a fair share of the rewards for our teams’ successes at the World Cup and our commitment to equal pay and treatment with our men’s national team. These are choices we should not have to make.
The interim agreement guarantees “at a minimum” a salary equal to that of the men’s team, the statement said. But there are “many more important points” that still need to be ironed out, the women’s team said.
” It is not finished. We and the Men’s National Team remain committed to finding a long-term solution that provides fair and equal treatment for our current national teams and investments in the future of Canadian soccer, but for now our team wants to focus on soccer. »
In a subsequent post on social media, the women’s team said they would not comment further until the end of the tournament.
Ranked seventh, the Canadians, who formed the Canadian Soccer Players Association in 2016, have been without a contract since the last one expired at the end of 2021.
They have reached a tentative agreement with Canada Soccer on compensation for 2022, but they say other issues have yet to be resolved.
The 43rd-ranked men, who organized last summer as the Canada Men’s National Soccer Team Players’ Association, are working on their first formal collective agreement.
The statement from the Canadian Men’s National Soccer Team Players’ Association was posted on social media ahead of Wednesday’s clash in Perth, Australia, between Canada and Ireland.
The men say Canada Soccer wants to keep around 70% of the World Cup purse “while demanding that [they agree] to significantly reduce [their] pay per match, up to 75%”.
“Amazingly, to date, the players of the men’s national team have not received anything for their participation in the 2022 World Cup, eight months ago. »
The men claim their “very reasonable proposal” would allow Canada Soccer to keep between $8.9 million and $14.1 million from the combined Men’s and Women’s World Cup prize pool.
The Canadian men’s team pocketed 9 million from FIFA as a club dismissed after the group stage in Qatar.
According to FIFA, under its new women’s tournament compensation scheme, member associations will receive $1.56 million, for a team exiting after the group stage, to $4.29 million, for champions.
