There has been much dispute from players recently over the inequities between men’s and women’s soccer, both financially and in support.
Canada’s national women’s soccer team went on a brief strike in protest of Canada Soccer’s failure to support them in the same way that they support the men’s team.
The main source of controversy has been the wide difference in pay for women and men in the sport.
Last week, however, some development was made between FIFA and the women’s teams involved in the upcoming Women’s World Cup.
Newly re-elected FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, announced last Thursday that the Women’s World Cup is receiving a large increase in funds, over 300 per cent, for the 2023 tournament.
Some of this funding will go towards player salaries, in addition to increasing the prize money for winning soccer clubs.
Canada Soccer Players’ Association (CSPA) said in a media release that while this is a step in the right direction, there is still much work to be done to even the playing field financially.
“[The new deal] is an attempt to quickly address the CSA’s failure to pay anything to the Women’s National Team members in 2022,” the CSPA said. “It also does not solve the deeper issues around pay equity and equalization of supports and resources across the national teams.”
The CSPA said adequate funding for the Women’s National Team and youth national program are at the top of the priority list when asked what they were looking to have addressed in a new deal going forward.
While FIFA told Humber News they were “unable to comment at this time,” they had previously said in a media release that “the new approach to distribution of tournament funding will see basic prize money replaced with US $110 million allocated to participant member associations, compared to US $30 million in 2019 and US $15 million in 2015.”
They also said that for the first time ever, funding will be set aside specifically for the fair compensation of players, whether they win the tournament or not.
Infantino said in the same media release that while their organization is finally working towards making amends with the women’s teams, not everyone in the world of soccer is.
“FIFA is stepping up, but unfortunately this is not the case for everyone across the industry,” he said. “Broadcasters and sponsors have to do more in this respect, for FIFA, for the confederations, for the member associations, for everyone.”
While this is a positive change, it is unclear how cooperative CSPA and the Women’s National Team will continue to be going forward into the 2023 season.
“The Women’s National Team players have advised Canada Soccer that while they intend to play in the upcoming FIFA window scheduled for April, that participation is contingent on meaningful progress being made with respect to a number of bargaining issues,” CSPA said.