Canadian players are suing their federation for discrimination

The main stars in Canada women’s national team They denounced on Thursday in Canada’s Parliament the systemic discrimination they suffer by the country’s soccer federation, Canadian footballand its culture of “secret and obstruction”.

Christine SinclairDespite the growing popularity of soccer in Canada and the successes of the women’s team, the players have to fight with the federation to “try to get fair and equal treatment” both in support and in pay, said the team’s captain and best female soccer player in Canadian history.

Sinclair denounced that for a decade, players had asked Soccer Canada for details about the federation’s finances and payments to federation players. men’s team.

Only in 2017, the federation agreed to pay the players a small salary.

“Imagine our surprise when we found out in 2021, the year we won Olympic gold, that the men’s team players were earning five times as much as the women’s,” Sinclair said.

another of the selected stars, Janine BeckyHe denounced it in 2018, after Canada was keen to host the United States and Mexico World Cup 2026Soccer Canada has transferred the commercial rights to the national teams to a company called Canadian Soccer Business (CSB).

In exchange, the federation receives a predetermined fixed amount unrelated to CSB money in return for selling the national team’s sponsorship and broadcasting rights to their matches.

Since then, thanks to the success of the national teams, sponsorship has doubled although the increase in income only benefits CSB.

“Our federation is openly betting against the teams’ success. We don’t know why Canada Football agreed to this deal. They either didn’t know it was a terrible deal or they knew it and agreed to it anyway,” Becky lamented.

Shortly before the players appeared before the parliamentary committee, Canadian football He published some details of the work agreement he is negotiating with the national teams.

The organization confirmed that it suggested that the players of the two teams receive the same fees for each match and that they equally share the financial prizes they won in the competitions.

According to Canada Soccer, with this agreement, the women’s team will become the second highest paid team in the United States FIFA.

Players from both teams have gone on strike in recent months to denounce the Canadian Soccer Association.

The recent protests of the women’s national team players led to the resignation of the President of Canada Football, Nick Ponteson February 27.

Bontis was temporarily replaced by Olympic Charmin scammersthe first woman president of the Canadian Soccer Association.