Sinclair on Canada Soccer: 'They bet against the success of their national teams'

Amidst the battle with Canada Soccer, women's national team star Christine Sinclair made waves on Wednesday with her comments while on American soccer legend Julie Foudy's "Laughter Permitted" podcast.

Soccer's all-time leading international scorer was asked by Foudy to name accomplishment she is most proud of.

Sinclair's response took aim at the difference she and her teammates are trying to make for the future of soccer in Canada.

"I'm not going to lie, It might be the fight I'm in right now with our federation, in terms of making a difference and having a lasting impact on future generations," she said. "So, I'm gonna say I'm not quite there yet, but we're getting there."

With Canada set to co-host the 2026 men's World Cup, Sinclair pointed to the desire to host that event as part of the reason that the current deal between Canada Soccer and Canadian Soccer Business was in place.

"(The) short story is, Canada obviously wanted to be part of the joint bid for the men's World Cup. In order to host a men's World Cup, you have to have a men's professional league," she said in response to a question about the existing deal. "This Canada Soccer Business promised a men's professional league, so that's why they did it."

She later continued: "They bet against the success of their national teams in exchange for a World Cup, is how us players read it."

The podcast was released nearly three weeks after Sinclair and teammates Janine Beckie, Sophie Schmidt and Quinn appeared in front of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage to discuss women's national team funding.

Despite that step in this ongoing process, Sinclair told Foudy that "it's the second-to-last window before the World Cup. But at this point, unfortunately, the (Canadian Soccer Association) has not even met, they haven't even addressed things with us. It's just been like crickets.

"It's important to know that our demands ... (go) so much deeper than equal pay. Equal pay for our federation is actually easy. They signed on that very early on," she continued. "So, those aren't the issues at play right now. It's funding for programs, youth programming, staffing ... yeah, we have equal pay ... but not equal opportunity to make that money."

Foudy also asked Sinclair what she and her teammates were specifically asking from the federation.

"I think, short-term, is equal-preparation opportunities that the men got. ... We're not demanding and asking for the world here. We just started asking for the same that the men got when they were preparing for their World Cup — whether that's travel standards, staffing, things as simple as gear all the way down to youth programming," Canada's captain replied.

"It's the future of our national team we're all very, very concerned about."

The topic of how the men's national was treated in its first World Cup appearance in 36 years arose again later in the podcast when Sinclair was asked about seeing the progress that the USA women's national team has made in their fight against USA Soccer.

"Obviously, the U.S. players, all along, have been at the forefront of this and were the first ones to make that stand and take that approach. ... We were always like, 'That's what we need to fight for,'" she said.

"What happened with us is that our men's team finally became successful. For a long time, we were treated equally to our men — you know, equally poorly — but at least it was equal. But then our men qualify for their first World Cup in 36 years and they are given the world."

Sinclair confirmed that there was a call with the new interim CSA president, Charmaine Crooks, later that day. No details of that call have emerged yet, but Canada is in its build-up window for the 2023 World Cup and is scheduled for a match on April 11 against France at Marie-Marvingt stadium in Le Mans.