Former Canada coach convicted of sexual assault not included on public sanctions lists | Canada women’s football team

TTwo years after receiving an 18-month prison sentence for sexually assaulting players in his care, a former coach of Canada’s women’s national team remains not on any public sanctions list released by Canada Soccer or BC Soccer, the regional governing body for soccer in British Columbia, where the crimes took place.

The revelation prompted the newly appointed executive director of Canada’s organization to handle reports of abuse and misconduct to call for an international offender registry to track people who have been banned from sport for misconduct.

Bob Birarda, a former member of the Vancouver Whitecaps women’s team and coach of the Canadian women’s under-20 team, pleaded guilty to three charges of sexual assault and one charge of forcible touching in 2022. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison in November of that year.

Following Birarda’s conviction in November 2022, current Vancouver Whitecaps CEO Axel Schuster promised that the club’s response to the allegations would “reach a higher standard today” than when Birarda committed his crimes (Schuster was not yet employed by the Whitecaps at the time).

“We recognize and understand the deep pain felt within our soccer community,” Schuster said in a statement. “We are truly sorry to everyone who was affected.”

Canada Soccer, co-host of the 2026 FIFA World Cup with Mexico and the United States, confirmed to the Guardian that it had banned Birarda from coaching, but did not respond to a request for clarification on when the suspension was invoked and whether Canada Soccer has published a list of individuals sanctioned by the organization.

“Canada Soccer can confirm that Mr. Birarda has received a lifetime suspension of his coaching registration without the possibility of retraining, recertification or reassessment of his coaching license in Canada,” Paulo Senra, a spokesperson for Canada Soccer, wrote in an email to the Guardian.

Coaching licenses in North America are primarily used to indicate a level of coaching education and are generally not required for employment purposes unless stipulated by a specific league or organization.

When asked why Birarda was missing from BC Soccer’s public list of those sanctioned, CEO Gabriel Alessio said in an emailed statement that its published database only reflects individuals banned by the provincial governing body.

“The list of BC Soccer disciplines and sanctions displayed on our website reflects the sanctions issued by BC Soccer. only [original emphasis]”, Alessio wrote. “While we do not publish sanctions imposed by other governing bodies or courts, BC Soccer fully complies with these decisions and enforces them in our jurisdiction. Our policies permanently exclude individuals convicted of criminal offenses, including sexual abuse, from participating in any soccer-related activities within BC Soccer.

BC Soccer did not respond to another request for clarification regarding when it received notice of banning Birarda and from whom, whether any communication was made public, whether BC Soccer can issue a simultaneous ban and why Birarda, whose crimes took place in the Vancouver area while he was employed by organizations under the BC Soccer umbrella, was not sanctioned by local soccer authorities. At this time, there is no information readily available from Canadian football’s governing bodies regarding the sanctions imposed on Birarda.

The Canadian Center for Ethics in Sport, a government agency that manages doping in Canada, took over the management of abuse complaints in the country earlier this year. Signy Arnason, executive director of safe sport at the CCES, described Birarda’s absence from a public database as “a perfect example of a serious gap that needs to be filled – without a doubt.”

“We need a national registry and you might also consider [historical] records for serious cases that may also involve sexual offenses,” Arnason said.

Canada Soccer and the Vancouver Whitecaps have been widely criticized for how the organizations failed to adequately handle complaints about Birarda’s behavior for many years. Allegations regarding Birarda surfaced in 2008 and led to a more than decade-long fight by former players for justice. The Birarda affair has become a prominent example of how leaders of sports organizations have failed to take authoritative action in the face of allegations and concerns about misconduct.

In 2019, 14 former Canadian national team players signed a letter claiming that Canada Soccer and the Vancouver Whitecaps had failed to protect players from abusive behavior by coaches after it was revealed that Birarda was coaching high-level youth soccer in Vancouver, even after being released years earlier from his contracts with the national team and the Whitecaps.

Andrea Neil, an icon of women’s soccer in Canada, said in a statement at the time that an investigation by a lawyer hired by Canada Soccer and the Whitecaps had failed to question many players about allegations regarding the coach’s behavior. Neil said the investigating lawyer told him it would be recommended that Birarda be banned from coaching.

At a team meeting before leaving for a World Cup, players on the U-20 national team recalled Canada Soccer board member Victor Montaglian, now president of Concacaf, announcing that Birarda was suddenly leaving his coaching role. A press release announced that the departure had taken place by mutual consent, but gave no reason. Yet Birarda held a position coaching young women for several years with a prominent club team in the Vancouver area.

A police investigation was eventually opened in 2020 amid media reports of inaction by Canadian soccer authorities. Birarda ultimately pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual assault and one charge of sexual touching.

The Canadian government has subsequently conducted several investigations into abuse in sport in recent years. Victor Montagliani, in his capacity as former president of Canada Soccer, and Peter Montopoli, former CEO of the organization, were called upon to answer questions from elected officials. Montagliani is now president of Concacaf, the host confederation of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Montopoli is COO of the 2026 FIFA World Cup Canada.

The Canadian government’s investigations have led to a restructuring of how complaints are handled in the country. The CCES took over the complaint process for federally funded sport organizations in April 2025.

“We heard that there needed to be a more trauma-informed approach,” Arnason said. “There has been a call for improved and more transparent communication in the process, so that people do not feel lost and submit a report and not be heard for months. We are the decision makers on violations and sanctions.

“A lot of times you create these programs and you bring in people with an athletic background. It’s not an area where that’s what you need. But you also need to have education, training and experience specific to areas of abuse.”

A new CCES Safe Sport Register lists people sanctioned by the organization since April. An automatic sanction applies to any sports participant “convicted of an offense under the Criminal Code for conduct considered to be prohibited behavior.”

In the United States, the Center for Safe Sport publishes a centralized disciplinary database on several sports governed by the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), including football, tennis, hockey, boxing, and track and field. The database lists people who have received sanctions, including temporary suspensions, restrictions and bans.

Recent reasons for sanctions in the United States have included sexual misconduct and crimes involving a minor, an intimate relationship involving an imbalance of power, physical misconduct, retaliation, sexual harassment, and the broader description of simple “misconduct.”

Arnason said she wanted to establish a registry that would track misconduct nationally and internationally: “We know that people move through systems and they move at the provincial level and at the club level. »

“They can be sanctioned at one level, but at another level, we don’t know that this person is dangerous in relation to their participation in sport. We also know that people are not only moving within their own country, but they are moving internationally and there needs to be better sharing of information between countries.”

“The question now is how do we start to put more pressure on the system to be more transparent with people who, frankly, should never participate in sports again? They are a danger. These are all things that absolutely need to be part of a national dialogue here in Canada but also internationally.”