Canadian Soccer Players Are Demanding Better Working Conditions
The Canadian senior men’s national soccer team has recently gone on strike. The players want sweeping changes in Canadian soccer, including for the women’s team pay to be raised to equal men’s.
The Canadian men’s national soccer team celebrates after defeating Jamaica four-zero in its World Cup qualifying match at BMO Field in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on March 27, 2022. (Geoff Robins / AFP via Getty Images)
In a press release on June 5, 2022, the Canadian senior men’s national soccer team stated its intention to sit out its friendly match against Panama that day. The players’ strike was a protest aimed at Canada’s governing soccer federation over contract disputes. The list of demands outlined in the team’s press release points to serious labor discontent in Canadian Soccer.
Since then, relatively little has been said on the subject. The team has gone on to play qualifying matches against Curaçao for the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF). But the incident is proof of growing player assertiveness. A similar yearslong dispute between the US women’s national team and US Soccer concluded this May with a historic collective bargaining agreement that included equal pay and ensured fair pay for US Soccer’s two senior teams.
The decision to sit out the Panama match is not a simply an aberrant blip. Unless the concerns of players are heeded soon, we can expect more of the same. Thus far, Canada Soccer seems unwilling to come to the table. As a result, the specter of player labor militancy will continue to haunt soccer in Canada.
How We Got Here
The relationship between players and Canada Soccer has been strained for years. Because of foot-dragging on the part of Canada Soccer over new contract negotiations, the men’s team canceled a number of training sessions prior to sitting out the match on June 5.
The team’s assertive stance is bolstered by recent triumphs. Both of Canada’s senior teams have been successful on the world stage, with the women winning Olympic gold in Tokyo in 2021 and the men qualifying for the World Cup in 2022.
These successes mean both teams have significant bargaining power. As of yet, however, this leverage has not been translated into actual change. Taking a “stand for the future of soccer in Canada,” the statement in the team’s press release issued a suite of demands:
- Increased financial transparency, especially in regard to the ten-year media and sponsorship agreement made with Canada Soccer Business (helmed by the owners of the Canadian Premier League teams)
- A leadership team that can “optimize this moment and generate revenue from corporate sponsorship”
- An equitable structure with the women’s national team that “shares the same player match fees, percentage of prize money earned at our respective FIFA World Cups, and the development of a women’s domestic league”
- World Cup compensation that includes 40 percent of prize money
- A comprehensive friends and family package for the 2022 World Cup
- More former players integrated into leadership positions within Canada Soccer.
The players want to change the way the national team program is set up. In particular, they are seeking greater transparency from the Canada Soccer Business (CSB) agreement. The players feel that the deal constrains their ability to fully take advantage of the current groundswell of support for Canada Soccer and that it is potentially holding back the future of the sport in the country.
Canada’s senior women’s team has expressed corresponding concerns and demands. In contract negotiations since January with Canada Soccer, the women’s team is seeking similar financial transparency. However, responding to the statement from their male counterparts, they have questioned the phrasing in the men’s call for an equitable agreement for both teams.
At issue is the equal percentages of prize-money winnings. Although the men’s demand for fairness in team pay structure was appreciated, the women’s team indicated that more clarity on the matter is needed, noting that “the Women’s National Team does not view equal FIFA percentages between our respective teams as equal pay.” The unequal pay in question is a result of the difference in prize money awarded to the two teams.
The Bosses’ Response
Canada Soccer president Nick Bontis and general secretary Earl Cochrane held a press conference hours after the cancellation. They claimed that Canada Soccer was ready and willing to negotiate but reiterated that their offer was fair and that they “benchmarked our offer with other offers around the world.”
They went on to deny the claim of pay unfairness, claiming that they tabled identical offers to both the men and women. In their view, the men’s demands were much too great. The players asked for 40 percent of group play money, with an increase to 75 percent afterward. Canada Soccer’s offer was 30 percent of all cup revenues to both the men and women’s teams. Each participating country playing at the 2022 World Cup will receive prize money from FIFA. Canada Soccer is expected to receive between $10 and $15 million.
CSB, the mysterious outfit that was cited by both the men’s and women’s teams, also entered the fray with a statement of its own. CSB claims that it is “prepared to be fully transparent about our agreement [with Canada Soccer] which has included an unprecedented amount of revenue to Canada Soccer in the past 18 months in the form of sponsorship and international media dollars.” It added further that it has “invested tens of millions of dollars and will continue to invest millions more to benefit Canadian soccer.”
CSB is an agency owned by the Canadian Premier League club owners that manages commercial assets for soccer properties in Canada. This includes the corporate partnerships and media rights for the men’s and women’s national teams, the annual Canadian Championship tournament, and the Canadian Premier League. Canada Soccer claims that it cannot afford to meet the player’s demands in part because it doesn’t entirely control its own broadcast and sponsorship rights. In a long-term contract signed in 2018, many of these rights were given over to none other than CSB.
Moving Forward
Both Canada Soccer and the players have issued apologies. The players’ strike was no doubt frustrating for fans — especially those who traveled to see the game. Overall, however, the actions of the players have been met with support. The men’s team has gone on to play Curaçao twice, winning both times, and quelling worries about further boycotted games.
Efforts are being made to get another agreement inked before the World Cup in Qatar in July of 2022. Observers believe that the largest sticking point in resolving the dispute — beyond even the issue of financial transparency — is the equitable deal with the women’s team.
The issue of fair pay is one that has come up consistently in soccer. A prominent example of this is the United States Women’s National Team’s (USWNT) long campaign for fair pay. The campaign concluded with the USWNT’s winning a landmark deal in which the men and women’s teams pool their prize money and split it evenly. The Canadian women’s team’s response to the men’s list of demands makes it clear that it is intent on winning a similar settlement.
Because women’s sports are continually underfunded, a simple percentage-based contract is only fair on paper. In 2021, Canada Soccer, according to its own publicly released annual report, spent a meager 18 percent of its total funds on the women’s team compared to a total of 39 percent on the men. In 2018, the World Cup prize money for the women was raised to $30 million, whereas the men were competing for nearly $400 million. With pay gaps as significant as $370 million, it does not make sense for the women to sign a deal based on percentage alone.
Since the men’s statement was released, head coach John Herdman has reiterated his support for a fair deal for both the women and men. It is reasonable to believe that this is genuine on the part of Herdman, who was formerly the head coach of the women’s team and fought hard for tangible improvements to the program in his time. However, the silence from top male players is concerning. That they did not respond to the women’s challenge to their statement makes it seem like their advocacy for equal pay was nothing other than grandstanding for good PR.
The men’s team has made an initial shot across the bow in setting the stage for future fights. But establishing equal pay between the two teams is key to settling this labor dispute. This is as it should be — it is an issue that persists beyond the boundaries of sport, and Canada Soccer can do better. The men’s statement was a good first step in this regard. On this matter — as with all the other demands made by the players — solidarity between the teams will be essential to take on the bosses.