The players of the France team are not the only ones to complain about the treatment reserved by their Federation. Indeed, the president of the Canadian Football Federation, Nick Bontis, announced Monday his resignation in the context of a crisis with the women’s team which denounces gender inequalities and the lack of funding. “While I have been one of the biggest supporters of an egalitarian system in the environment linked to performance in competitions, for our women’s national team, I will unfortunately no longer be leading the federation when that happens,” explained Nick. Bontis, in a press release.
“I recognize that the current context requires a change,” he added, specifying that his resignation is effective immediately. “Canada Soccer and our national team programs are in the process of signing a historic collective agreement,” he said without giving details, promising a “flagship agreement that will set ‘Canada’ apart from virtually all other associations. members of FIFA”.
Players go on strike
Earlier Monday, the 13 provincial and territorial federations had sent a letter calling on Mr. Bontis to step down, according to the sports television channel TSN. At the beginning of February, the women’s team had led a one-day strike to denounce gender inequalities and the lack of funding, an approach supported by the men’s team. The movement had been stopped due to the threat of legal action against her by the federation, and the reigning Olympic champions then played the SheBelieves Cup in Florida, a friendly preparatory tournament for the Women’s World Cup this summer.
According to the iconic team captain, Christine Sinclair, in 2021 the Federation granted more than 11 million Canadian dollars (just over 7 million euros) to the men’s team, compared to around 5 million Canadian dollars to the women’s team, whereas the previous year , the expenses devoted by the federation were almost identical: a little more than 3 million dollars for men, and 2.8 million for women. Last year, the Americans, double reigning world champions, reached an agreement with their federation to establish equal pay with the men’s team.