Women's stars not planning World Cup boycott over turf use
Women's soccer stars have not discussed any plans for a boycott of the 2015 women's World Cup in Canada, despite their anger over the plan for the tournament to be held on artificial turf, according to USA Today.
More than 40 international players filed a lawsuit against FIFA and the Canadian Soccer Association on Wednesday, arguing that it’s a gender-discrimination case. They said the men’s World Cup would never be played on artificial turf, and want to play the tournament on natural grass, as every men's World Cup since 1930 has been.
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The players also argue in the lawsuit that turf is more dangerous and causes injuries far worse than those that occur on grass fields.
A FIFA representative said on Wednesday that the tournament will be played on artificial turf "and there's no Plan B."
The CSA and FIFA had a deadline of last Friday to switch the tournament to grass, and when that did not materialize the players moved forward with the lawsuit.
FIFA Player of the Year Nadine Angerer and the United States' Abby Wambach and Alex Morgan are among the players who filed it.
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“Our focus right now is on the lawsuit,” Angerer told reporters on Thursday. “None of us talked about anything beyond that. I think the FIFA and the Canadian Soccer Association should give us the best opportunity to play our game and show our best performance and give us the best opportunity. But we’ve never talked about boycotting the World Cup.”
- Molly Geary
