Vancouver, June 6 (BNA): The Canadian soccer team refused to play Sunday’s match against Panama amid tense labor negotiations with the country’s governing body, as players seek to equalize match fees and share World Cup prize money with the women’s team.
The game was canceled just two hours before its scheduled launch at BC Place in Vancouver. The players also refused to train on Friday and Saturday as the team prepares for its first World Cup appearance since 1986, the Associated Press reported.
The team released a statement Sunday amid heated negotiations with Canada Soccer that comes less than a month after the US men’s and women’s team unions reached a landmark agreement with US Soccer on equal pay.
“It is time to take a stand for the future of football in Canada,” the statement said.
The men said they wanted 40% of the World Cup prize money, a travel package for friends and family, a “fair structure with our women’s national team sharing the same player match fees, the percentage of prize money earned in our FIFA World Cup Finals” and development of the women’s domestic league “.
“We want to work with our organization, but the relationship has been strained for years,” the players said in a statement. “Now, Football Canada has disrespected our team and jeopardized our efforts to raise standards and effectively promote the game in Canada.”
Football Canada president Nick Pontes apologized to fans who planned to attend Sunday’s game at a Sunday evening news conference, but also called the players’ demands untenable.
The players said they began discussions with Soccer Canada in March, and that the association made them an “old offer” on June 2.
“Canada Soccer works with the players in good faith to find a way forward that is fair and equitable for all. We would like to have a fact-based discussion within the financial realities that Canada Soccer has to live with every day,” Pontes replied.
“Football Canada is committed to the principles of fairness and equity and we believe we have made a fair bid for the players. We benchmarked our bid against other national teams from around the world. On the issue of gender equality, which was raised in the players’ speech, Canada Soccer’s bid also committed to offering the same terms. for our women’s national team.
The Canadian women’s team ranked sixth in the world and won the gold medal last year at the Olympics. The women’s side entered the dispute on Sunday, saying that negotiations with the union have been going on since January.
The statement noted that women do not consider a percentage of the World Cup prizes won by the teams concerned as equal pay.
“The women’s national team will not accept an agreement that does not offer equal pay,” the players said.
Midfielder Jonathan Osorio, a regular player who is not on the current roster due to injury, told The Canadian Press that flights and accommodations have improved since former women’s coach John Herdman became men’s coach in January 2018.
“I think what we’re asking of the players is fair,” midfielder Jonathan Osorio, a regular who is not on the current roster due to injury, told The Canadian Press. “We don’t want to be treated more than similar teams we compare ourselves to. We just want to be respected and not taken advantage of and only given our fair share.”
The US men’s team drew 0-0 with Uruguay on Sunday as it also prepares for the World Cup in Qatar, starting next November.
“They’re trying to say, ‘Hey, we deserve this because we did something that wasn’t done and we are the players who are going to carry the torch for this country moving forward,'” said US defender Walker Zimmerman, leader of the American Men’s Union. Definitely a solid position to get their money back.”
Panama was a late substitute after Canada Football Club canceled a match against Iran after criticism from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Canada is set to play Curaçao in Vancouver on Thursday and Honduras on June 13, both in the CONCACAF Nations League. Canada, ranked 38th, opened Group F at the World Cup in Qatar against second-placed Belgium on November 23, playing 16th Croatia four days later and 24th-ranked Morocco on December 1.
FIFA did not respond to a request for comment.