It was essentially a pre-emptive strike, hours before captain Christine Sinclair and three other members of the Canada women’s team aired their grievances before a parliamentary committee.

Canada Soccer says its proposed employment contract will see both teams receive equal match compensation and share the competition’s prize money equally. The Olympic-winning team would become the second highest-paid women’s national team among FIFA’s 211 member associations, presumably behind the US team.

The governing body says the proposal “shows Canada Soccer’s commitment to its core principle that if you are a player for the Canada Soccer national team – regardless of your gender – you are responsible for the work you do in the competition and for representation.” be paid equally in our country.” .

“It’s time to strike a deal,” Canadian football general secretary Earl Cochrane said in the statement. We negotiated in good faith and we want to reach a solution with our national teams. For that we need the approval of both our national teams. Our women deserve to be paid equally and they deserve the financial security needed to host the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 (in Australia and New Zealand this summer). »

Canada Soccer, however, concedes that equal pay doesn’t mean equal dollars when it comes to team budgets, saying the men’s FIFA World Cup competition schedule and qualifying path comes at “very different costs” than the women’s.

Still, Canada Soccer claims to have spent $37,423,185 on all of its men’s teams in staffing and program costs from 2012-2019, compared to $37,073,407 for all of the women’s teams in the same reporting period.

Unlike men, older women have competed in two World Cups and two Olympic Games during this period.

As part of Canada Soccer’s proposed deal, players will receive $3,500 per game depending on their opponent’s rank, as well as win bonuses of up to $5,500 per player. Each team would receive $1.15 million for World Cup qualification.

Of the $9 million won by the men’s team in Qatar, Canada Soccer suggests that 40% (approx dollars depending on where the team takes in the tournament).

The two teams have reportedly asked to share 80% of Qatar’s profits equally.

Canada Soccer reports that total player compensation for men from 2012-2019 is $2.92 million, compared to $2.96 million for women over the same period.

According to Canada Soccer, acceptance of the proposed deal could result in total player compensation of $10.29 million for men between 2020 and 2023, depending on on-field performance, and $9.64 million for women over the same period .

On the CSB side

Canadian Soccer Business is also poised to change the controversial deal it made with the Football Association.

CSB primarily markets Canadian football products through broadcast and sponsorship agreements.

It pays the governing body a set amount each year, with the remainder used to fund the Canadian Men’s Premier League. Canada Soccer, which has no interest in CSB, would currently receive between $3 million and $4 million per year as a “rights guarantee beneficiary” under the agreement.

CSB CEO Mark Noonan, who is also CPL commissioner, did not confirm the financial arrangements but said the annual guarantee was “triple what Canada Soccer made commercially in 2018 when nobody was willing to take a risk.”

Canada Soccer’s five-page statement preceded the testimony of Sinclair, Janine Beckie, Sophie Schmidt and Quinn, who goes by one name, before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage. Representing the women’s team, these four players have played 732 games for Canada for the senior team.

Canada Soccer officials are scheduled to appear before the parliamentary committee on March 20.

Referring to the list of complaints filed by the women’s team over the past month, Canada Soccer says it has accepted or is in the process of responding to all nine requests.

These demands range from a budget comparable to that of the men’s team for the World Cup preparations, business class travel, single rooms and a team chef at the World Cup – as with the men – by December 2023. They want that at least one home game before the to contest the World Cup.

Canada Soccer has announced the hiring of a new commercial director and the creation of a new department to oversee “the foundational and philanthropic efforts of the association” to help raise funds to fund the proposed employment contract.

The women who founded the Canadian Soccer Players Association in 2016 have been without a collective agreement since the last collective agreement expired in late 2021. They have reached a tentative agreement with Canada Soccer on 2022 pay but say other issues remain to be resolved.

The men, who formed the National Men’s Soccer Team Players’ Association of Canada last summer, are now finalizing their first formal collective bargaining agreement.