Canada Soccer announced this Friday that it has reached an agreement in principle with women’s national team players to make them financially equal to men, days after the president’s resignation.
“It’s about respect, dignity and equalizing the competitive aspects in a world that is fundamentally unequal,” said federation general secretary Earl Cochrane, explaining that the agreement includes gaming bonuses and performance awards.
Canada Soccer also clarified that a new comprehensive two-team collective agreement is being negotiated and that this preliminary agreement is still subject to change but is in line with the need for equal pay as a pillar of any agreement.
On Wednesday, former Olympian track and field champion Charmaine Crooks was named interim president of the Football Federation of Canada, just days after the resignation of Nick Bontis sparked fierce controversy from the associations.
“While he was one of the biggest proponents of an egalitarian system related to competition results, unfortunately I will not be at the helm of the federation when that happens,” the manager said in a statement.
The Canadian Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medalist team, which included Benfica striker Chloe Lacasse, was forced to take part in the SheBelieves tournament two weeks ago after the players went on strike.
Canadian internationals protested to draw more attention to the lack of funding and gender disparity between the two teams, in an initiative supported by the men’s team Steven Eustaquio of FC Porto and Steven Vitoria. from Desportivo from Chavez.
According to captain Christine Sinclair, in 2021 the federation invested more than 11 million Canadian dollars (about 7.6 million euros) in the men’s team, allocating five million (3.4 ME) to the women’s team, less than half.