Letter to Sepp Blatter, President of International Association Federation of Football (FIFA) - Level the Playing Field for Women's World Cup

Letter

Sepp Blatter

President

International Association of Federation Football (FIFA)

FIFA-Strasse 20

P.O. Box 80344

Zurich, Switzerland

Dear Mr. Blatter:

In November, we wrote expressing our concerns about the International Federation of Association Football's (FIFA) treatment of female soccer players. While the Men's World Cup has always been played on natural grass, FIFA plans to host the 2015 Women's World Cup on artificial turf. Turf is an inferior surface that poses safety risks and fundamentally alters the way the sport is played.

Remarkably, FIFA has insisted on using artificial turf for the Women's World Cup despite the players' sustained objections. We believe that FIFA's approach is sending the wrong message: FIFA literally is requiring female athletes to perform on an unequal playing field -- one that it would not let men play upon.

We are writing to once again ask that you address this problem in good faith. We understand that the players traveled to Zurich in order to present FIFA with a compromise proposal whereby the players would withdraw their complaint before the Human Rights Tribunal in Ontario, Canada, if FIFA would agree to host just four games on natural grass.

This is about more than the playing surface on which soccer matches are played: it is about the message we are sending to women and girls around the world. The United States Women's National Team has been an inspiration for our country. These incredible female athletes are talented and hard-working, and they endeavor to hold themselves to the highest standards of sportsmanship and teamwork. We are proud of our players, and relegating them to fields that men would not play upon sends the wrong message to them and the world.

We urge you to continue discussions with the players, work to compromise in good faith, and treat them with the respect and dignity they deserve.