Canadian Women’s National Team Calls Out Canada Soccer As It Goes on Strike

The winners of the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics are unhappy with support from the federation.

With the Women’s World Cup just months away, the Canadian women’s national soccer team announced that it is going on strike on Friday, citing “significant cuts” to the national team programs for 2023 from Canada Soccer.

“The Canada Women’s National Team is both outraged and deeply concerned with the news of significant cuts to the national team programs for 2023,” the statement read. 

“With the biggest tournament in women’s football history less than six months away, our preparation for the World Cup and the future success of the Women’s National Team program are being compromised by Canada Soccer’s continued inability to support its national teams. Despite our strong track record of success and history making achievements for more than a decade, we continue to be told there is not enough money to adequately fund our program and our youth teams.”

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

— CanadianSoccerPlayers (@PlayersCanadian) February 10, 2023

The statement later read that the team was demanding “immediate change” and for the World Cup preparations to be “funded appropriately.”

The country’s men’s national team also released a statement echoing the same sentiment, while noting that Canada Soccer has “consistently refused” or “blatantly ignored” the players association’s requests for access to financial records that support the claim that Canada Soccer cannot fairly compensate the players.

Shortly after the statement multiple players joined a television broadcast to share their thoughts.

“Until this is resolved, I can’t represent this federation,” Christine Sinclair told TSN. “I’m such a competitor, it breaks my heart and kills me to actually be saying those words out loud.”

The federation responded to the statements with a statement of its own, saying, in part, “Canada Soccer has a proven track record of supporting women’s soccer. Pay equity for our women’s national team is at the core of our ongoing player negotiations. Canada Soccer will not agree to any deal without it.

“We want to get this resolved, for both of our national teams, and for soccer in Canada.”

The Canadians enter the 2023 World Cup having won the gold medal at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo.