On top of that, Canada’s players are warning that they will boycott April’s international fixtures if their dispute over pay inequality and funding cuts is not adequately addressed. The Canadian squad, who won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics 18 months ago, had planned to strike during February’s SheBelieves Cup tournament in the United States but eventually took part in that mini-competition “under protest” after the Canada Soccer Association threatened them with legal action. Their players allege there is a “disgusting” difference between the provisions afforded to the men’s and women’s national sides.
That contributed to mounting pressure on Canada Soccer’s president Nick Bontis, who resigned on Monday Bontis said in a statement: “I acknowledge that this moment requires change.”
Nonetheless, the dispute between the players and Canada Soccer appears far from over.
Most worryingly for the sport more widely, these are merely the cases that are making the news globally, but will be far from isolated. As one Women’s Super League player put it, when discussing the matter privately last week: “If the Olympic champions can’t get the conditions they deserve, what hope is there for some of the smaller, poorer countries?”
Chelsea manager Emma Hayes summed up the situation when she said on Sunday that these multiple cases across the globe serve as a reminder of how much further the women’s game still has to go.
Chelsea’s captain Magdalena Eriksson, asked what support she would offer her club team-mates Buchanan, Fleming and Perisset in the run-up to the League Cup final on March 5, said on Tuesday: “We’re all friends in the team and we have supported them a lot. It’s something that we know is an issue in women’s football. It’s not something that we’re not used to.
“There have been different people having different fights that can share their experiences with them and help them in that way. And then I think it’s just about being there and supporting them, and them also knowing that Chelsea is a safe space where luckily we don’t have those issues, we have a really good environment.”
Speaking after her side’s 2-0 win over Arsenal in the Women’s FA Cup, where asked for her assessment of the situation, Hayes – whose Chelsea team includes Canada duo Kadeisha Buchanan and Jessie Fleming, as well as France right-back Eve Perisset, said: “Federations have got to do better to support the women’s game, because clearly we’re not getting it right globally.
“I don’t know each and every situation in its entirety. What I know is, we’ve all got to do better. It’s sad to hear, but it’s one which just serves as a reminder of just how much work we’ve still got to do.”
