Canada’s players refused to play a friendly against Panama due to a dispute with the local football association over financial compensation and other issues, and this came before the team’s historic participation in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

In recent days, the players have refused to train because of this controversy, stating in a message that the federation does not respect our team and is undermining our efforts to raise standards and move the game forward in Canada.

Most notable of these issues is the 40% share of proceeds from qualifying for the World Cup final in Qatar, while the federation proposes to give only 10% of proceeds to players.

The players called for remuneration to be equal with the women’s team in terms of match-related revenue and percentage of World Cup finals profits, and for the creation of a local women’s league.

This is the second friendly match to be canceled from Canada’s national team program after the match against Iran was canceled due to a protest led by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Johnny Khoury