ORLANDO, Fla. — Three years after the United States women’s national team protested their federation at the SheBelieves Cup, Canada’s players find themselves in a similar situation.
Despite the longstanding rivalry between the teams, though, there is camaraderie from the common fight for equity off the field. On Thursday, that will play out on the field for a global audience.
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“We’re with them 100% and obviously know exactly what they’re going through, how difficult it is to do all that off the field and have to perform,” U.S. forward Megan Rapinoe said on Wednesday, one day before the two teams are scheduled to play at the exhibition tournament.
Canada players threatened their federation with a strike last week over what they say are unequal conditions and resources compared to the men’s team. Players also said they were not paid at all in 2022.
The Canadian Soccer Association responded by threatening legal action, which could have potentially cost players millions in personal damages if they did not participate in the SheBelieves Cup.
Canadian players said they will participate in this tournament in protest, and that they will show that in some visual way when they take the field on Thursday at Exploria Stadium. U.S. captain Becky Sauerbrunn said her team will join them.
“I think you should plan on seeing some things for the game tomorrow,” Sauerbrunn told ESPN. “Whether it be statements or on-field protests, I think there will be stuff that we are organizing and we are in full support of them.”
On Wednesday, Canada players trained at Exploria Stadium in a combination of unmarked gear and apparel that was turned inside-out to hide the Canada Soccer logo.
This is not the first time that the SheBelieves Cup, a friendly tournament that U.S. Soccer hosts annually, has fallen in the crosshairs of labor disputes in the women’s game.
In 2020, the U.S. women turned their warm-up shirts inside-out to hide the U.S. Soccer logo and show only the outline of the federation’s crest and the four stars above it, representing the four World Cup championships they won.
The protest was in response to legal filings days earlier in which U.S. Soccer’s counsel, as part of the years’ long fight for equal pay, argued that women were inferior athletes.
Players and the U.S. Soccer finally ended their fight last year with a $24 million settlement for backpay and a new collective bargaining agreement that brought equitable pay with the U.S. men’s team.
U.S. men and women will split their collective World Cup prize money equally, one of the biggest roadblocks during the six years of fighting.
On Thursday, U.S. veterans Rapinoe, Sauerbrunn and Alex Morgan said they will offer whatever advice they can to their Canadian colleagues. Sauerbrunn has been in direct contact with Canada captain Christine Sinclair, who is her club teammate with Portland Thorns FC.
Canada is the USWNT’s most common historical opponent and arguably its biggest rival, but the crossover between the programs is significant.
Most Canadians and Americans have historically played in the National Women’s Soccer League, and many of Canada’s top players played in the U.S. college system.
