Canadian men’s soccer team refusing to train over contract dispute

TSN Senior Correspondent

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Canada’s national men’s soccer team stayed off the pitch on Friday, refusing to train for Sunday’s World Cup warmup against Panama because of a dispute over player compensation, according to sources familiar with the matter.

It’s unclear whether players will appear at a scheduled training session on Saturday at BC Place. It's also unclear if players have threatened not to play in Sunday’s game in Vancouver, which was scheduled after Canada Soccer cancelled a friendly match against Iran because of political pressure. The team is also scheduled to face Curacao at BC Place on June 9.

Players have been at odds with Canada Soccer executives for months after the national organization offered a new contract to the team, the sources said. The contract offer was tabled to players in April.

A Canada Soccer spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

The proposed contract includes a tentative payment structure for qualifying for this year’s World Cup tournament in Qatar and includes set bonuses that depend on how far Canada advances in the event. 

The winner of this year’s World Cup will receive $42 million (U.S.) of FIFA’s $440 million total prize money. 

It’s unclear how much money teams will make for qualifying for the tournament, which begins Nov. 21, but Canada Soccer is believed to be poised to receive more than $10 million from FIFA, sources familiar with the matter said.

Canada Soccer has proposed that men’s national team players would receive about 10 per cent of that $10 million payment, with the balance going to fund items including the organization’s administration costs, a proposed national training centre in Vaughn, Ont., and grassroots soccer initiatives, the