Canadian men’s national soccer team refuse to take field over contract dispute

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Players on the Canadian men’s national soccer team refused to take the field for an international friendly against Panama at BC Place in Vancouver on Sunday, over a contract dispute.

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Canada Soccer the announced game had been canceled less than two hours before the scheduled kickoff. The team had canceled training sessions on Friday and Saturday as the players and Canada Soccer officials worked on an agreement.

Just prior to the game being cancelled, the players put out a letter to Canadian soccer fans:

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Dear Canada

Four years ago, we set out on a mission to leave our program in a better place than we found it. At the time, it had been over 30 years since our nation was represented at the FIFA Men’s World Cup. Aside from our collective childhood dreams of playing at a World Cup. We hoped that qualifying this team would bring a level of respect and financial opportunity that could raise the standards & opportunities for the next generation of players in our country and change the trajectory of soccer in Canada forever.

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Despite the unprecedented success of both the Women’s and Men’s National teams in 2021/22, we have seen no changes. Where is the progression? Where is the money?

We have recently learned that in 2018, Canada Soccer signed an agreement with Canadian Soccer Business that has completely compromised their ability to leverage the on-field success of our senior national teams. To have any chance of creating substantial, lasting change for all Canada Soccer programs, we need the terms of this agreement to be disclosed and corrected. We want to know who signed this deal that has handcuffed our association. Why have Canada Soccer given up autonomy of the greatest opportunity to grow our program in years?

We want to work together with our organization, but the relationship has been strained for years. And now, Canada soccer has disrespected our team and jeopardized our efforts to raise the standards and effectively advance the game in Canada.

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In March, we initiated contract discussions with Canada Soccer. Due to executives delaying the process and taking vacations, the negotiation process was unnecessarily prolonged. Canada Soccer waited until the evening of June 2 to present an archaic offer and the general secretary & president of the association only made themselves available for the first time to connect with the players on June 4 at 4 pm

For these reasons, we have reluctantly decided not to play our match today against Panama. It’s time we take a stand for the future of soccer in Canada.

Going forward, we need…

— Transparency and a review of the Canadian Soccer Business Agreement.

— A leadership team that can optimize this moment and generate revenue from corporate sponsorship that should be used to drive the game forward at all levels for years to come (grassroots, youth, para & senior programs).

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— An equitable structure with our 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% of prize money and a comprehensive friends and family package for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

— More former players from the men’s, women’s and para team integrated into leadership positions within Canada Soccer Board & Organization.

These are the fundamental elements we will stand on guard for, to shift soccer in our country.

We want to apologize to our fans. Playing at home with your support, is everything to us. We hope Canada Soccer will take decisive steps to work with our team so we can be back on the field for our match on June 9.

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We also want to apologize to Panama’s players, fans, staff, and association.

It’s a great privilege and responsibility to represent and play for our country. We stand on guard for you, for us and for generations to come.

The Canadian Men’s National team

We are Brothers. We Fear Nothing. We Stand on Guard.

Canada made it to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar by finishing first in the final Concacaf qualifying group ahead of Mexico and the United States.

It’s the first time Canada has qualified for men’s World Cup since its only previous appearance in Mexico in 1986.

The cancellation of the game is the latest saga for the men’s national team in the lead-up to the World Cup Nov. 21 to Dec. 18 in Qatar. Canada was drawn into Group F at the 32-team tournament with Belgium, Croatia and Morocco.

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Canada Soccer had originally scheduled a friendly against Iran at BC Place this weekend, prior to a pair of Concacaf Nations League games against Curacao and in Honduras next week.

The game, however, had to be canceled when Canada Soccer received backlash for hosting the Iranians in light of the shooting down of Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 shortly after takeoff from Tehran en route to Kyiv on Jan. 8, 2020.

According to the Canadian government, 55 Canadians and 30 permanent residents were among 176 people killed when the plane was shot down by two Iranian surface-to-air missiles.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was among those who criticized Canada Soccer for scheduling the game.

“This was a choice by Soccer Canada,” Trudeau said in May. “I think it wasn’t a very good idea to invite the Iranian soccer team here to Canada, but that’s something the organizers are going to have to explain.”

Canada Soccer has yet to respond to a request for comment on the cancellation of the game against Panama.