00:00 you need to do better for everyone.
00:01 In football, women's teams are more committed than men.
00:04 Human rights, wages, working conditions and sexual assaults
00:07 are the focus of the World Cup, which starts on July 20th.
00:10 We'll talk about the fights of the footballers.
00:12 But first, why this commitment?
00:14 According to the New Zealand media Stuff,
00:16 the main reason is that the players had to impose themselves
00:19 in a sector dominated by men,
00:20 and therefore fight from the start and throughout their careers.
00:23 For the New Zealand player Ali Riley,
00:25 this World Cup will not be an exception.
00:27 I know that the tournament players will speak up
00:29 for the causes that are important to them.
00:31 It's something we would like to see more
00:33 among the players of the World Cup.
00:35 Footballers regularly speak up to defend women's rights,
00:40 but also those of the LGBTQI+ people.
00:42 At the head of this fight,
00:43 the American lesbian champion Megan Rapinoe.
00:46 She and her team even refused to go to the White House,
00:49 then occupied by Donald Trump,
00:51 after winning the World Cup in 2019.
00:53 Your message is excluding people.
00:55 You're excluding me, you're excluding people that look like me,
00:59 you're excluding people of colour,
01:01 you're excluding, you know, Americans that maybe support you.
01:05 And when rumors announced Saudi Arabia,
01:07 criticized for disrespecting human rights
01:09 as a potential sponsor of the World Cup,
01:11 the opposition was clear.
01:12 For Dutch striker Vivianne Miedema,
01:15 FIFA should be ashamed, really,
01:17 while Alex Morgan, the star of the American national team,
01:20 describes the possible sponsoring as "abhorrent" and "scandalous".
01:23 In the end, Saudi Arabia is not a sponsor of this edition.
01:26 The World Cup
01:28 People pay, people pay!
01:30 The Jamaican team had to open a crowdfunding
01:32 to participate in the World Cup,
01:34 a shouting symbol of the contrast with men's football.
01:36 It's absolutely shocking
01:38 that we're in a position where teams are having to beg
01:40 to be able to reach a major tournament.
01:43 In Canada, the 2021 Olympic team
01:45 threatened to strike this winter.
01:47 The players accused the National Federation
01:49 of not supporting them properly
01:50 and even went to plead with the Parliament.
01:52 Now I don't even get disappointed by it anymore,
01:54 I just get angry about it
01:55 because it's time, it's 2023,
01:58 we won the damn Olympic Games.
02:00 A temporary agreement was then reached with the Federation.
02:04 Sometimes, the fight pays.
02:05 In 2022, the American team signed an agreement
02:08 guaranteeing equal pay
02:09 between the male and female teams.
02:11 The prize for the World Cup
02:12 is also equally distributed between men and women.
02:15 We are the champions!
02:19 Beyond the salary,
02:22 the players protest for a better consideration
02:24 of their mental health.
02:26 The French players had thus obtained
02:27 the withdrawal of their coach Corinne Diac,
02:29 criticized for her management.
02:31 In Spain, 15 players asked for the resignation
02:33 of their coach to improve their health and mental state.
02:36 The Federation refused to hear them.
02:38 As a result, some players decided
02:40 not to participate in the World Cup, like Mapilléon.
02:42 I would be really disgusted
02:43 not to participate in the World Cup,
02:45 but my values are more important.
02:47 Haiti, Venezuela, Zambia, Ireland,
02:51 Argentina, the United States, Colombia,
02:53 all over the world, players denounced sexual assaults.
02:56 I think we underestimate the extent
02:58 of the assaults committed in the world of football.
03:00 Current measures do not allow to prevent them,
03:03 to conduct investigations worthy of this name
03:05 and finally to support the victims and survivors.
03:07 said Jonas Behrofman,
03:08 general secretary of the FIFBRO,
03:10 a union representing 65,000 footballers in the world.
03:13 This World Cup will also mark the return
03:15 of the Irish player Sinéad Fairley
03:17 after 6 years away from the pitch.
03:19 She had stated that she had been assaulted
03:20 by coach Paul Reilly.
03:22 He was indignant and is now challenging her charges.
03:25 These protests are making progress,
03:27 but they are still slow.
03:28 If FIFA increased the budget
03:30 to reward players,
03:31 which has increased from 30 to 110 million dollars
03:34 in 4 years, it is still 4 times higher
03:36 for the men's teams.
03:37 Proof that the race for equality
03:39 is far from over.
03:40 (upbeat music)
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