A coalition of some of the top names in women's football from Germany, Brazil, Spain and the United States submitted a letter to FIFA and the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) on Tuesday (September 23), through lawyers, calling on organisers to open discussions by Friday (September 26) about the playing surfaces to be used next year or face a lawsuit.

That deadline has passed and no discussions have taken place, leading to lawyers representing the players announcing they are preparing to file a lawsuit in the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario over the coming days.

Among the players on the 40-plus list are past and present FIFA World Players of the Year, including German goalkeeper Nadine Angerer, Brazil's five-time World Player of the Year Marta and American Abby Wambach.

Also named in the lawsuit are US internationals Alex Morgan and Heather O'Reilly, Spain captain Veronica Boquete and France's Camille Abily.

They are claiming discrimination as men would never be forced to play a World Cup on an artificial surface.

A statement from Hampton Dellinger, the attorney representing the players, said: "The discriminatory proposal of FIFA and the CSA to stage the 2015 Women's World Cup on artificial turf, coupled with their refusal to discuss ways to fix the mistake, have left the players with no choice.

"It is now time to ask the courts to stop FIFA and CSA from forcing elite athletes to compete under game-changing, dangerous and demeaning conditions... world-class games cannot take place on second-class surfaces."

Players have said they will not boycott the World Cup, which is scheduled to take from June 5 to July 6 next year.

Five-time Women's World Player of the Year Marta of Brazil is among a host of top players unhappy at the use of artificial turf at next year's Women's World Cup in Canada
©AFP/Getty Images



Venues in all six cities being used for the event - Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montreal and Moncton - are set to use artificial turf.

Recent FIFA Youth World Cups, including the 2014 Under-20 Women's World Cup in Canada last month, have been staged on artificial surfaces.

FIFA's deputy director of competitions division and head of women's competitions, Tatjana Haenni, has insisted there are "no plans" to switch the FIFA Women's World Cup to natural grass.

"We play on artificial turf and there's no Plan B," she told The Canadian Press.

However, she did admit FIFA has retained an independent consultant to examine the playing surface at all six venues and is accompanying an official delegation from the world governing body that is beginning a tournament inspection today.

"The quality of the turf is of concern to many people," added Haenni.

"There's different types of turf.

"There's older ones, newer ones, and you can categorise them based on some testing.

"And I think for all of us, including the Canadian Soccer Association, it will be helpful if we can say - proven let's say by an independent company - what kind of turf and quality it is."

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