A group of US and top international women soccer players filed a lawsuit in Canada on Wednesday challenging the 2015 Women’s World Cup’s artificial turf.
The suit, led by Abby Wambach, was filed at the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal in Toronto, reported by the Associated Press.
The women claim that playing the sport’s premier tournament on fake grass amounts to gender discrimination under Canadian law. Their male counterparts have always played the World Cup on natural grass surfaces and will for the foreseeable future.
The players say there is a greater risk of injury on artificial turf, and the surface affects both how the game is played and how the ball moves.
Among the athletes joining Wambach are U.S. teammate Alex Morgan, Germany’s Nadine Angerer, Brazil’s Fabiana da Silva Simões and Spain’s Verónica Boquete.
Source: WSJSports
