Canada Soccer gets back to training under cloud of acrimony

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The good news is that the Canadian men’s soccer team is back on the pitch, working their way toward the 2022 FIFA World Cup, set for November in Qatar.

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The less-good news is that the players remain at odds with the leadership of the Canadian Soccer Association.

After withdrawing from two days of training on Friday and Saturday, then holding out from playing a friendly against Panama on Sunday at BC Place, Canada’s players finally made their return Monday after a series of discussions with CSA president Nick Bontis and deputy general-secretary Earl Cochrane. The team is scheduled to face Curaçao in a CONCACAF Nations League game on Thursday at BC Place.

The players declined interviews Monday, instead releasing a statement before practice, making clear they had yet to reach an agreement with management.

“Questions have yet to be answered and actions have yet to be taken,” the players declared. “We move forward in the hopes that Canada Soccer will work with us to resolve the situation.”

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Canadian soccer players being in a dispute over finances with Canadian soccer authorities is nothing new.

During the 2000 Gold Cup — which the Canadians went on to win — the Canadian players forced a meeting with CSA bosses to sort out an agreement on compensation. There was also a player protesting over money during the build-up to the 1986 World Cup, the only other time the Canadian men have qualified.

“We had a number of meetings where we were like, ‘We’re not leaving our rooms until (CSA chief operating officer) Kevan Pipe comes down … to LA We’re meeting you face-to-face and we’re not doing anything until we’ve figured this out,” former Canadian goalkeeper Craig Forrest recalled.

How are the millions that are set to flow to Canada from FIFA to be divvied up, the current players are now asking.

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The players say they are asking for 40 per cent of prize money from the World Cup, a “comprehensive friends and family package” for Qatar, a pay structure that would pay players on both the men’s and women’s teams the same match fees, and percentages of prize money earned at the World Cup, as well as clarity on the structure of the CSA’s 2019 deal with Canadian Soccer Business, which saw the CSA hand over the bulk of its commercial rights in exchange for a guaranteed annual payout.

They also called for the creation of a Canadian women’s league.

“I could not believe it that they did not have a deal in place before,” Forrest said. “That’s on both of them.”

The frustrations about lack of transparency he heard from the current group of players felt very familiar, and he had a lot of sympathy. The players deserved to speak to with honesty, he said

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For years, Canada Soccer has struggled to generate revenue.

Forrest was a commentator for Sportsnet for years until the network decided to get out of broadcasting soccer several years ago. Forrest pointed to the massive NHL TV rights deal signed by Sportsnet in 2013 as the reason why.

TSN, which negotiated World Cup broadcast rights directly with FIFA, could have picked up Canada Soccer coverage, but they didn’t want it either, he said.

That led to the formation of Canadian Soccer Business, which partnered with Spanish broadcaster MediaPro to create OneSoccer, the online streaming platform that is home to Canada Soccer national team games and the Canadian Premier League, as well as other international soccer.

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The terms of the deal aren’t known, but Canada Soccer was promised a consistent revenue stream.

“How does all this not get explained to the players to understand where money is coming from, of how difficult it is (to make money)? But they don’t talk,” Forrest said of Canada Soccer and its own players.

“They’ve lost trust in each other, and this is what has happened generation after generation.”

Gregor Young, the executive-director of Vancouver United FC, has been around Canadian soccer for years as a former national team youth player and as a grassroots coach.

“It’s an unprecedented time,” he said of the buzz generated by the men following on from the heights the women’s team achieved by winning gold last summer at the Tokyo Olympics.

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“It felt like a body blow. This has been a fairytale to this point,” he said of Sunday’s cancellation.

Vancouver didn’t play host to any home qualifying games, so he traveled to Edmonton and Toronto for games.

Canada Soccer wouldn’t confirm the revenue loss for Sunday’s game, but using the example of Young’s tickets ($75-$100) for qualifying games in the past year, multiplied by the large crowds (20,000 to 30,000 fans), suggests that Canada Soccer was making between $1 million and $2 million per match.

“This is a team that’s generating, finally, real money,” he said. “I’m glad the players stood up for themselves. The timing could have been better. But it’s better than it is being resolved now than at the next window in September, or in Qatar.”

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Bontis claimed during a news conference on Sunday that the CSA couldn’t afford the players’ demands, but given the players seem to be talking about the added money coming to Canada Soccer because of World Cup qualification, not the current budget, his comments left many scratching their heads.

“I think a lot of people were hoping for a more conciliatory approach with a few olive branches built into it,” Young said of Bontis’ combative approach. “I don’t think it laid the ground work.”

Beyond the players and Canada Soccer getting a deal in the coming days and weeks, a long-term solution needs to be found, Forrest said. With players scattered all over the world, focused on their own circumstance most of the time, the players and CSA leadership need to communicate better.

“What they need is like a player liaison, somebody who is the go-to guy for anything that is player related, and there’s a connection to the CSA, and there’s the trusted guy who is going to let them know what’s going on with things ,” he said.

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