|
 FFA chief executive David Gallop said Australia's Matildas team were
a casualty of a separate labor dispute with men's players in the
country's top-flight A-League.
"Sadly I'm here to say that the Matildas tour of the USA will not be
going ahead," he told reporters in Sydney on Thursday.
"The short point is this, the reason it won't be going ahead is
because the FFA and the PFA (Professional Footballers Australia)
have been unable to reach agreement regarding the A-League salary
cap.
"The extraordinary demands that the PFA have made in relation to the
A-League salary cap has found the Matildas caught up in something
they shouldn't be caught up in."
Australia's national players' association said the Matildas had
called off their American tour late on Wednesday.
They were due to play the United States in Detroit on Sept. 17 and
in Birmingham, Alabama on Sept. 20.
The Matildas had already boycotted a training camp ahead of the tour
as part of the protracted dispute over a new Collective Bargaining
Agreement.
The last CBA expired in June and the players union and governing
body have been at loggerheads since.
"The players are currently uncontracted and are under no obligation
to participate in any Matildas related activities," PFA chief
executive Ben Vivian said in a statement on Wednesday.
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Some 60,000 tickets had been sold for the two U.S. fixtures.
Gallop told reporters on Wednesday the governing body faced a
"significant" financial hit if the matches were scuttled.
The two authorities have been feuding over pay and terms for players
on both the men's and women's national teams and in the A-League.
The men's team boycotted commercial appearances in Perth last week
in the lead-up to their World Cup qualifier against Bangladesh.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by John O'Brien)
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