Canada Soccer could consider filing for bankruptcy protection, warns De Vos

Canada Soccer’s internal problems have been highlighted once again after the body’s interim general secretary, Jason de Vos, said it may need to consider filing for bankruptcy protection.

“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,” De Vos told 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.

“… [Bankruptcy] has been discussed, but not in the sense of this is a strategy or this is something that we’re looking at. It’s been discussed more from my own perspective to learn about it. It is absolutely the last option that I want to consider or even think about. But I would be remiss if I didn’t do my due diligence on this.”

According to TSN, Canada Soccer’s cash reserves were CA$2.4m at the end of 2022, down from CA$7.1m a year earlier. Canada Soccer has already been investigated by the Canadian parliament’s Heritage Committee because of poor governance and for failing to take allegations of abuse seriously. Earlier this year, the country’s minister for sport, Pascale St-Onge, ordered an audit into Canada Soccer because of a “lack of financial transparency.”

The news comes as Canada’s women’s team, the reigning Olympic champions, prepare for next month’s World Cup. The men’s team are currently competing in the Gold Cup in the United States.

De Vos, who captained the men’s team during his playing career, did not indicate the World Cup or Gold Cup campaigns are in jeopardy but said international games later this year are threatened. De Vos said the men’s team,