The Canadian women’s soccer team has opted not to participate in the 2023 Pan Am Games, a Canada Soccer spokesman confirmed in a statement to Sportsnet.
“The 2023 Pan American Games start before, and finishes after, this year’s Women’s FIFA Calendar windows,” the Canada Soccer spokesman said in a statement. “Therefore as an organization, we have opted not to participate due to associated challenges with availability of the squad and maximizing contacts with full roster.”
The Mexican women’s team will replace the Canadians in the tournament.
The Canadian women have participated in every edition of the Pan Am Games, except for in 2019 when they chose to focus on World Cup preparation instead.
Canada’s back-to-back games against Jamaica on Sept. 22 and Sept. 26 as part of the CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying are the only two matches the team currently has on its schedule.
The 2023 Pan American Games are set to take place from Oct. 20 to Nov. 5 in Santiago, Chile. The final two international windows this year are Oct. 23 to Nov. 1 and Nov. 27 to Dec. 6.
Canada’s head coach Bev Preistman did tell reporters last week the team hopes to add to its schedule soon.
“We intend to be active in all FIFA windows,” Preistman said. “We are finalizing plans and we hope one of those windows will be at home, for sure.”
Canada had a disappointing performance at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, bowing out in the group stage with a 1-1-1 record.
It hasn’t been an easy year for the Canadian women, as they have also been constantly battling for a new labour agreement with Canada Soccer.
An interim deal, covering compensation for the women for 2023 including the World Cup, was struck during the tournament, both the men’s and women’s teams — in separate statements — expressed displeasure at the state of negotiations.