So the men's national teams can't play friendlies against good opponents at a fairly reasonable cost because they need to make sure the women get friendlies at the same time, and they don't have enough cash to get both sorted? Yikes.
Quote:
deVos said the men’s national team has already missed out on the chance to play matches against Korea and Saudi Arabia in September. deVos was days into his executive position with Canada Soccer when he was advised that a match agent (someone paid to broker games between national teams) had tabled an offer for Canadian men’s team to play Korea in England and Saudi Arabia in Austria during the September window.
Saudi Arabia was willing to offer Canada Soccer $500,000 to play, which meant the cost to the federation of playing both games in Europe would have been less than $200,000.
Beyond the fact that Canada, currently the No. 47 ranked national men’s team, had the opportunity to play credible competition – Korea is No. 27 and Saudi Arabia is No. 54 and both played in the World Cup in Qatar – having games in Europe would have had the added benefit of allowing Canada’s players with European club teams not to have to travel as far for training camps and games.
deVos said told an agent that he couldn’t immediately commit because he needed to explore the financial consequences of agreeing to the games. He said Canada Soccer officials believe that if the men’s national team plays in its international windows this fall, then the federation would need to ensure the women’s team also schedule games in their windows.
Playing two matches and running a camp in a single window can cost between $500,000 and $1 million per team (depending on whether teams need to book charter flights) and there is concern within Canada Soccer that having both senior national teams playing in their three windows this fall may further drain the federation’s cash.
|