Canada Soccer ‘could file for BANKRUPTCY and might be forced skip fall international breaks’

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.

‘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.’

Canada Soccer is in the midst of financial dire straits that could impact the national teams

Canada Soccer’s interim general secretary Jason deVos said bankruptcy could be on the table 

Bankruptcy is a ‘last option,’ he said.

Canada Soccer’s reserves fell to $2.4million at the end of 2022, but the fund had $7.1m 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.

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. 

deVos said the women’s team, led by Bev Priestman (above), won’t be affected at World Cup

‘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.

This comes at a time where soccer in the country is at the height of its popularity thanks to the success of the men’s and women’s national teams.

A youth sports report published by Solutions Research Group (via Rick Westhead) found that soccer was the most popular sport among kids in the country while hockey – long considered the nation’s biggest sport – sat in third.

Of the estimated four million Canadian youths between the ages 3-17 who play sports, about 16 percent play soccer.

That potential talent pool is something men’s national team manager John Herdman pointed out in a critical take of the state of affairs after Canada’s Nations League Final loss to the United States just over a week ago.

Canada’s John Herdman said lack of funding means nation is ‘not serious about winning a World Cup’

‘I think it’s not a secret the organization has been suffering financially even through the World Cup qualification. You had coaches raising money to make sure we’ve got charter flights, security on those charter flights,’ he said.

‘I mean, that’s it. You know, we’ve got the best generation of players we’ve had. And there’s more coming, you can see it. [Ismael] Kone just dropped out the sky. Tajon Buchanan just dropped out the sky, Alistair Johnson, like it’s coming. 

‘We’ve got to figure this out financially. We’ve got to get serious about winning a World Cup. When you play at home, you get a chance to win it. You get a chance to get to a quarterfinal, a semifinal, and then get on that roll to win it. And we’re not serious. 

‘We brought a World Cup to our country and we’re not serious about winning it. And you see how close that team is tonight. Tactically, we were there. Chances, shots, we were there. The margins were so tight tonight, so tight. 

‘So we’ve got to get real. We’ve got to get real and quick, ’cause these players, they deserve it. They deserve a shot. The country deserves it. All the people that work to bring it deserve a shot. Let’s get after it. We’re close.’