Canada's women's soccer team to form players' union: report
Will be 1st women's players' union in Canada
Canada's top female soccer players will announce plans to form a players' association on Thursday, the Toronto Star reported Wednesday.
According to the paper, the Canadian Women's National Soccer Team Players' Association will be created at a meeting in a Toronto law office and will be the first women's players' union in Canada.
"The (veteran) players on our team have seen this progression of going from nothing to being able to earn somewhat of a decent living," Diana Matheson, a member of Canada's bronze-medal teams at the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, told the Star.
"Now, we want it to be more stable for younger kids coming up so they know they can earn a living through soccer and not have to worry in the winter when the wages dry up and, hopefully, they don't still have to go live with their parents into their 30s like some of us have had to do," Matheson, 32, said.
One of the main issues has been the disparity between what senior male players make and what women earn.
The Canadian Soccer Association pays the salaries of its players who compete in the professional National Women's Soccer League, where players are reportedly paid between $7,200 and $39,700 US per season by the league if they are not allocated by the Canadian or U.S. federation. Members of the Canadian men's national team are paid per appearance.
This spring, the U.S. women's national team filed a wage discrimination complaint against the U.S. Soccer Federation.