US players say ‘deep flaws’ in how SafeSport handles abuse claims

The US Center for SafeSport is failing to handle abuse claims appropriately, United States national football team players said, asking Congress to change how the body operates days before the women’s team launches its bid for a fifth World Cup title. READ - FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023: Afghan players watch Morocco’s team practice, hoping to get their chance “SafeSport was created with noble and important intentions, but we believe that as it stands today, SafeSport is failing in what it was meant to achieve.” The letter, which pointed to “deep flaws” in SafeSport’s processes, was signed by current and former members of both the men’s and women’s national teams. The call for action comes months after an independent investigation found abuse and sexual misconduct spanned multiple teams in the top-flight National Women’s Soccer League and that US Soccer, the sport’s national governing body, failed to put in “basic measures” to safeguard players. “US Soccer and the NWSL have been hard at work to reform our sport, but we need your help to create real change.” Among the concerns outlined in the document were an appeals and arbitration process that players say can be “damaging and retraumatizing for victims of abuse.” Also at issue is SafeSport’s so-called “exclusive jurisdiction,” which the athletes said leaves U.S. Soccer “without an avenue to pursue its own investigations against suspected abusers” when SafeSport administratively closes a case.