Canada Soccer is in a dire financial situation and eventually could be forced into bankruptcy, TSN reported Tuesday.
The women's national team is scheduled to compete in the World Cup next month, and the men are playing in the Gold Cup this week. Beyond that, the teams might not be able to play during international windows this fall, per the report.
Canada Soccer’s finances have worsened to the point that both senior national teams may not play in international windows this fall and the organization may eventually need to contemplate filing for bankruptcy protection.
Story from @rwesthead: https://t.co/bcKS795KSA— SportsCentre (@SportsCentre) June 26, 2023
"We are in a real struggle. It's not imminent, but we need to explore what bankruptcy entails and how it might affect our organization," said Jason deVos, the interim general secretary of Canada Soccer, in an interview with TSN.
"We don't have enough revenue coming in for the programs that need to be run, and that includes everything from grassroots coach education and referee development to youth national teams and our senior men's and women's teams."
Bankruptcy is a "last option," he said.
Canada Soccer's reserves fell to $2.4 million at the end of 2022, but the fund had $7.1 million a year earlier, per TSN. Last month, the government ordered an audit of the organization to cover March 2017 to March 2023 financial reports.
The organization has yet to sign a new collective bargaining agreements with either senior national team, and it continues to receive criticism over a contract it signed in 2018 with a company that will pay it an annual upfront fee in exchange all the revenue from the national teams' media rights and sponsorships, TSN reported.
Canada will co-host the 2026 World Cup with the United States and Mexico, driving up the value of Canada Soccer's media and sponsorship rights.
John Herdman's comments Sunday night on Canada Soccer's funding issues.
He said during the lead up to last year's World Cup, men's national team coaches had to raise money privately to pay for charter flights. pic.twitter.com/T7iNSMTToj— Rick Westhead (@rwesthead) June 19, 2023
Canada Soccer has had to delay booking international matches for its national teams as financial feasibility needs to be determined first. In the meantime, other teams' schedules are filling up.
"The challenge is there isn't enough budget to be able to make September and October happen at this moment," deVos said. "What we need is to play against tier-one opponents in games that move the needle. At this point, trying to find games against top teams in September and October is challenging."
The national women's team opens the World Cup on July 20 against Nigeria.
deVos said the women's team -- which won the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics -- will not be impacted during the World Cup. However, he told TSN that the women might only play the two games against Jamaica this fall that are required to qualify for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
--Field Level Media
