Equity conflicts on the road to the Women’s World Cup

With just four months until the start of the 2023 World Cup, international women's soccer is in for a reckoning. We all know about the USWNT's equal pay fight. For many women's teams, it's about more than that. It's important to acknowledge that these players are not just starting to fight; we are just starting to really pay attention. They've been fighting this for as long as the US has. This is not new.

Look at Haiti, Canada, France, Columbia, and Spain, to name a few. 2023 has already seen a new level of this, though. Players and teams are threatening to and/or announcing they will not play in the World Cup as a bargaining tool.

Spain saw an early resurgence of this late last year. 15 of Spain's best players announced they would step back from the team until things changed. They were, in particular, referring to the manager of the team, Jorge Vilda.

These players expressed feelings of unfair treatment. These 15 women became the first group of players to forgo the chance at this World Cup title willingly. Two-time Balloon D'Or winner Alexia Putellas was not one of these fifteen players, but she did express support for them. She had suffered an ACL injury before the Euros and said on Instagram that she did not want to be selected for the team.

Sophie Schmidt (left) and Sabrina D’Angelo (right) wearing “Enough is Enough” purple warm-up shirts before their third SheBelieves Cup game.

Mike Ehrmann / Getty Images

Canada might have created the biggest stir when they announced a strike against Canada soccer over program-funding concerns. This has continued to be inaccurately labeled as an equal pay fight. It goes much deeper than that. The reigning Olympic gold medalists are fighting to keep their program alive.

The federation previously announced that they could not afford to fully fund both the men's World Cup trip to Qatar and the women's World Cup trip to Australia/New Zealand. However, Canada soccer has been very cryptic about its business expenses and funding breakdowns.

The strike began on February 10, just a week before Canada was set to take the pitch in the SheBelieves Cup. Their federation then threatened to sue the players individually. Financially, the players could not afford this and broke their strike on February 12. They played the SheBelieves Cup in protest.

Their Players Association also announced that the team had not been paid for any of their 2022 matches, including the World Cup qualifying CONCACAF tournament. The players and federation have since reached an interim payment agreement that will at least pay the players for 2022.

France is the most recent example of this. Their long-time captain, Wendie Renard, announced that she would not play for the team until changes have been made. However, she did not say she was retiring from international play altogether.

Two other players have since joined her Marie-Antionette Katoto and Kadidiatou Diani. Katoto is likely out due to injury anyway, but it makes a very important statement. She is saying that she stands with her teammates no matter what. Similar to Spain, the issue lies with their manager, Corrine Diacre. Rumors spread within a few days that Diacre would step down within the week, but she has since made it clear that she will not leave before the World Cup.

Captain Wendie Renard during a game for France.

Mike Egerton/PA

These teams have received the most international attention regarding their fights with their federations, but they are by no means the only ones. Haiti just qualified for its first World Cup and is still mostly ignored by its federation.

Some of Columbia's players have stepped away from international competition over treatment concerns. Japanese players have stepped away for the same reasons. The list could go on and on. Hopefully, things continue to improve the way they have for the United States (who still are not perfect), and no team has to boycott or strike through the World Cup.

However, no matter what, fans worldwide must continue to stand firmly with the players and demonstrate our support for them above anything else.