Olympic gold medal-winning Canada head coach, Bev Priestman, is understood to be considering her future with the national team as the impasse between the players and federation over pay equity issues and budget cuts rumbles on.
Priestman, who led the Canada women’s national team to a first major tournament victory at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, is considering her options for beyond the World Cup, which kicks off in July. Vera Pauw’s Republic of Ireland side were drawn alongside Canada in Group B, with the sides set to meet in Perth on Wednesday, July 26th.
It is believed that the 36-year-old Priestman, who was assistant to Phil Neville when he was head coach of England’s Lionesses, is considering a move into club football and that a number of clubs have expressed an interest in her.
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The situation between the players and Canada Soccer has deteriorated in recent weeks, with the Canadian Soccer Players’ Association (CSPA) releasing a statement on Friday which said that they are “outraged and deeply concerned” by reported funding cuts.
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Team captain and the most capped player in the world, Christine Sinclair, tweeted “enough is enough” and said she could not represent the federation on the pitch until the situation is resolved. The decision of the players to step back prompted Canada Soccer to threaten legal action against the players.
Players claimed that Canada Soccer threatened to “not only take legal action to force us back to the pitch but would consider taking steps to collect what could be millions of dollars in damages from our players’ association and from each of the individual players currently in camp” if they did not commit to playing in the SheBelieves Cup hosted by the US this month.
Manchester United defender Aoife Mannion, recently called up by Pauw for the first time, has backed the Canadian players’ stance.
“These players are Olympic gold medal winners so if they don’t feel like they have the power to push change and to ask for more, where does that leave any other international team?
“I think every player will be looking at them with a level of inspiration and fingers crossed that they get the level of respect and open conversations that they deserve.”
