Canada women’s national team striking due to budget cuts

With the SheBelieves cup coming up next week, and the Women’s World Cup arriving in less than six months, the Canada Women’s National team is calling for better resources and advocacy from their federation who announced budget cuts for their women’s national team.

The Canada Soccer Association has informed their players that they “cannot adequately fund the Women’s National Team”. This has resulted in cutting camps and training sessions, as well as informing the players that they will be unable to have a home game before they head to the World Cup this summer. The players association has issued a statement detailing this information to the public and expressing the following:

"“We are tired – Tired of constantly having to fight for fair and equal treatment, and for a program that will give us the chance to achieve what we know this team is capable of achieving for Canada”"

They had demanded new leadership be found if Canada Soccer is unable to meet these requirements and support their Women’s National Team. The same Women’s National Team that won Canada a gold medal at the last Olympics. This women’s national team has only played three home games in 2022, and not playing one before they leave for the World Cup this summer would be detrimental to their World Cup preparation and momentum. The Men’s National Team also released a statement supporting their Women’s Team.

This isn’t the first time that protest has been brought to the SheBelieves Cup. During the 2020 cup, the USWNT wore their training tops inside out to protest US Soccer’s sexist statements during their equal pay lawsuit. Several USWNT players have expressed their support for their rivals. Alex Morgan and Becky Sauerbrunn both voiced their support on Twitter, boosting the player’s statement and asking for an appropriate response from Canada Soccer. Megan Rapinoe also backed her Canadian counterparts on Instagram, posting a story of the player’s statement along with her own words:

"“Bitter enemies on the field, deeper allyship off of it. These are Olympic Champs Canada Soccer, why are you doing??!! To all the players, you have our support here on the @uswnt @uswntplayers Let us know how we can be supportive”"

Canada WNT players Janine Beckie and Christine Sinclair appeared on SportsCenter soon after their statement was issued. They confirmed that the team will not be participating in any team activities until they can reach a resolution with Canada Soccer. They sent in their demands to the CSA on Thursday and are waiting to hear back before they will play in the SheBelieves Cup next week. The Canada WNT was set to play their first match against the United States on February 16th at 7pm EST, but as of now, they are on strike until conditions are met to give them proper funding and resources which they wholeheartedly deserve.

Canada Soccer issued their statement a few hours later, stating they were meeting with their Women’s National Team and legal council in Orlando on Sunday to continue negotiations and citing their track record for supporting women’s soccer. It remains to be seen whether they will uphold that record and provide better funding for their Women’s National Team.