Canada Soccer increases membership fees starting in 2025 to help improve revenue

Financially challenged Canada Soccer took a step toward improving its bottom line Saturday, voting to increase its annual membership fee for players by $4 starting in 2025.

Soccer players will pay a $13 fee, up from $9 in what Canada Soccer says is the first membership fee hike since 2017.

Canada Soccer also has a new president-elect in Peter Augruso. The president and chair of Ontario Soccer ran unopposed after incumbent Charmaine Crooks announced before the vote she would not seek re-election in order to pursue other opportunities.

The fee increase came in the form of two motions at the annual general meeting in Montreal.

The first called for a raise of $3 to go to the national governing body. The second called for an additional $1 hike with half going to Canadian national youth programs and half going to Project 8, the group behind the women's domestic pro league currently under construction.

The $3 fee increase would generate an extra $2.2 million using current numbers, given Canada Soccer's 2023 annual report lists countrywide membership of some 739,642.

Kevin Blue, Canada Soccer's president and general secretary, called the fee increase "one component of a much broader effort to increase revenue" for the governing body.

According to the organization's 2023 annual report, membership fees account for some 20 per cent of Canada Soccer's revenue. The report says the rest comes from commercial and other fees (46 per cent), FIFA and CONCACAF grants (22 per cent), government grants (11 per cent) and the 2026 FIFA World Cup (one per cent).

Crooks was elevated to president from vice-president in February 2023 when Nick Bontis resigned, acknowledging change was needed to achieve labour peace with the Canadian men's and