International Football
Player revolts plunge Women’s World Cup buildup into turmoil
Player protests and high-level resignations are dominating headlines amid a growing sense of reckoning in women’s soccer less than five months before the World Cup kicks off.
Noel Le Graet, president of France’s soccer federation (FFF), resigned on Tuesday, while Canada Soccer boss Nick Bontis stepped down a day earlier with those countries’ players embroiled in bitter disputes with their federations.
Canada’s women’s team have vowed to boycott a pre-World Cup camp next month over equal pay and support, while Le Graet faced allegations of harassment. A government ministry audit concluded the 81-year-old Le Graet did not have the “necessary legitimacy” for the position.
French women’s coach Corinne Diacre is also under fire and her future may be decided on March 9 by an FFF select committee.
Spain has also been rocked by a revolt by 15 players, who withdrew from selection consideration in protest at coach Jorge Vilda.
While the clashes could cast a cloud over the women’s global showcase, which begins on July 20th in New Zealand and Australia, players have vowed their fights are far from over, and some say the recent resignations should be just the tip of widespread changes.
“Bontis’ departure MUST trigger sweeping change,” Amy Walsh, who played for Canada at the 2008 Olympics and earned 102 caps, posted on Twitter. “It’s not enough.
“Our athletes — as well as future generations of Canadian footballers — deserve so much better.”
Neither Bontis nor Le Graet, however, are leaving the game. Bontis was named CONCACAF Council vice-president (North America) on Saturday, while Le Graet, who has denied all accusations, has reportedly been pegged to lead FIFA’s Paris office.
SUCCESS ON THE PITCH
The turmoil in the two women’s programmes is in stark contrast to their success on the pitch. Canada are the reigning Olympic women’s champions, while France topped their group in World Cup qualifying.
And while the governance battles rage on, female footballers have forged strong bonds — regardless of what country’s colours they wear. When the Canadian women played the recent SheBelieves Cup under protest, they found they had allies in players from around the world.
Both the Americans, who settled an equal pay lawsuit with their federation for $24 million a year ago, and Japanese wore purple tape on their wrists at the SheBelieves Cup, while the U.S. women said in a statement: “Although we are now on the other side of this fight… our counterparts in Canada and elsewhere are experiencing the same pervasive misogyny and unequal treatment that we faced.”
Across the pond, England’s Lionesses wore purple wristbands at the Arnold Clark Cup, to “display their support (for) the Canadian WNT players and for gender equality,” the team said in a tweet.
Canada’s call for equality goes beyond equal pay. Forward Janine Beckie, who was in Qatar for last year’s men’s World Cup as part of Canada’s broadcast crew, saw the “disgusting” discrepancy between the two programmes.
She cited as an example that the Canadian men’s team staff was twice the size of the women’s.
“I think we’ve been fighting blindly not knowing what our federation was capable of in terms of support, and then we were all witnesses to what our men’s team received,” said longtime captain Christine Sinclair.
Canadian midfielder Sophie Schmidt told media through tears in Orlando that she nearly quit over shoddy treatment from their federation, but Sinclair and coach Bev Priestman convinced her to reconsider.
France’s team captain Wendie Renard said last week she would not play at the World Cup as long as Diacre is in charge.
Fellow French internationals Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Kadidiatou Diani have also said they were taking a step back from the national team.
Spain’s 15 players declared themselves unavailable, saying in a statement that playing “significantly” affected their “emotional state.”
The federation replied saying that it wouldn’t tolerate any pressure from players.
-Reuters
Representatives from four national players’ unions on Thursday launched a new global organisation in Madrid, which they say will strengthen footballers’ rights and improve dialogue with governing bodies.
Opening a new front in the battle over who speaks for players, the International Footballers’ Association (AIF) was unveiled, with David Aganzo, president of Spain’s Association of Footballers (AFE) and a former head of the global union FIFPRO, appointed to lead the organisation.
Players’ unions from Brazil, Mexico and Switzerland were also represented.
The initiative drew a swift rebuke from FIFPRO, which said in a statement that Aganzo was acting out of self-interest and aligning himself with organisations linked to football governing bodies, as well as groups expelled from FIFPRO over alleged mismanagement.
Aganzo rejected the criticism, saying he “will not seek confrontation with FIFPRO”.
The launch comes amid strained relations between players’ unions and football authorities, particularly over the expanding international match calendar.
Relations between FIFA and FIFPRO deteriorated in 2024 after the union lodged a complaint with the European Commission, arguing that the global governing body was abusing its dominant position by adding competitions without sufficient consultation.
Aganzo denied suggestions that the new initiative was backed by FIFA president Gianni Infantino, but said “direct dialogue with FIFA” was essential.
AFE’s Extraordinary General Assembly approved the initiative in February with 99.8% of votes cast in favour of spearheading the creation of the AIF.
The same assembly also backed AFE’s withdrawal from FIFPRO, citing what it described as a “complete lack of transparency, as well as its total lack of dialogue with international bodies.”
“We represent over 30,000 footballers, and we come here with a new model aimed at safeguarding players’ rights and facilitating direct communication with all international bodies,” Aganzo told reporters.
“We are in contact with 15 to 20 unions already who were very aware of this moment and waiting for this announcement to make their move and join our initiative.”
He declined to identify any unions beyond those present.
Asked about a report that a senior envoy to U.S. President Donald Trump had urged FIFA to replace Iran with Italy at the upcoming World Cup, Aganzo urged caution.
“These are more political issues; on April 30th, I’ll be speaking to Gianni (Infantino) at the FIFA Congress, and we will discuss those things,” Aganzo said.
“People who want to go to the World Cup have to earn their place on sporting merit.”
-Reuters
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A new trial over the death of Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona will begin on Tuesday, with seven members of his medical team charged with negligent homicide nearly a year after a previous case collapsed in a mistrial.
An enduring presence in Argentina – from towering murals to tattoos, opens new tab – Maradona died on November 25, 2020, at 60, after a heart attack while he was recuperating from brain surgery to remove a blood clot.
A court in San Isidro, near Buenos Aires, will hear testimony from just under 100 witnesses as it tries Maradona’s medical team over alleged negligence in the death of the 1986 World Cup champion.
His medical team has denied wrongdoing. The defendants are psychiatrist Agustina Cosachov, neurosurgeon Leopoldo Luque, psychologist Carlos Angel Diaz, physician Nancy Edith Forlini, nurse Ricardo Almiron, head nurse Mariano Ariel Perroni, and physician Pedro Pablo Di Spagna. An eighth defendant, nurse Dahiana Madrid, will be tried in a separate jury trial, with no date yet set.
Two months into the first trial, which started last March, a mistrial was declared when one of three judges, Julieta Makintach, resigned after video surfaced showing her being interviewed by a camera crew in the corridors of the courthouse and in her office as part of a documentary, in breach of judicial rules.
The retrial will require both prosecutors and defense lawyers to reassess their strategies after the first trial aired photographs, videos, audio recordings and forensic evidence. Many witnesses, including Maradona’s children and his former wife, Claudia Villafane, have already testified.
Prosecutors argued in the initial trial that medical professionals broke treatment protocols and that the home where Maradona was recovering from surgery amounted to a “theatre of horror,” where necessary care was not provided.
The defense countered that his death was inevitable given his longstanding health problems. Maradona struggled for decades with cocaine and alcohol addiction.
The negligence charges emerged in 2021 after prosecutors appointed a medical board to investigate Maradona’s death. The panel concluded his medical team acted in an “inappropriate, deficient and reckless” manner.
-Reuters
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Aliou Cisse has been named coach of the Angola national team, the country’s football federation (FAF) announced on Thursday, 24 hours after the Senegalese left his post in Libya.
The 50-year-old coach, who led Senegal to their maiden Africa Cup of Nations title in 2022, ended his short stint with the Libyan national team on Wednesday, after taking charge in March 2025.
“Welcome, Aliou Cisse, head coach of the Angola national team,” the FAF said on Facebook. Angola, which failed to reach this year’s World Cup, will start their 2027 AFCON qualifying campaign in September.
-Reuters
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