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After releasing a statement on Friday announcing a strike in protest of Canada Soccer’s “significant cuts” to the national team program, the Canada women’s national soccer team said it will play in the SheBelieves Cup as it continues to prepare for the 2023 World Cup.
“Yesterday, our Players’ Association announced that we were taking action in response to Canada Soccer’s significant cuts to our national team programs less than six months in advance of the world cup,” the team’s statement read on Saturday night.
“Representatives of the Players’ Association met with Canada Soccer this afternoon for an hours-long meeting in which concerns of the players were discussed in detail. Prior to the meeting, Canada Soccer told us that they consider our job action to be an unlawful strike. They told us that if we did not return to work and did not commit today to playing in Thursday’s game against the United States, they would not only take legal action to force us back to the pitch but would consider taking steps to collect what could be millions of dollars in damages from our Players’ Association and from each of the individual players currently in camp.
“As individual players who have received no compensation yet for any of our work for Canada Soccer in 2022, we cannot afford the risks that personal action against us by Canada Soccer will create. Because of this, we have advised Canada Soccer that we will return to training tomorrow and will play in the SheBelieves Cup as scheduled…”
Captain Christine Sinclair tweeted out the national team’s statement and made sure to inform the masses that the upcoming games would be played in protest.
“To be clear, we are being forced back to work for the short term. This is not over. We will continue to fight for everything we deserve and we will win. The SheBelieves is being played in protest.”
Canada kicks off its group stage play in the 2023 SheBelieves Cup against the United States on Thursday. The team is currently ranked sixth in the world and is coming off a gold medal performance in the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo.
