SANTA MONICA — Soccer has become one of the most vocal sports about inequalities in the sports world amongst gender. Players like Carli Lloyd and former keeper Hope Solo have become vocal about the discrepancy of pay between the women and men, but Tuesday twitter ran amuck with complaints of how FC Barcelona handed its men business class seats while forcing the women to sit in economy.
Barcelona was probably stoked as the men and women headed out on their first joint tour to the US. However, it quickly turned south as players tweeted and instagrammed photos together on the flight and fans began to notice the difference in accommodations for the women and men on the flight. It didn’t take long for fans to criticize the team for the different level of accommodations the two teams were handed.
The trip was suppose to be a historic one as the two teams had never toured before together. The plane was set to land in Portland Oregon before the Barcelona men and women would head their separate ways. The men would head out to play three games in the International Champions Cup, and the women would head south to compete in a friendly against SoCal FC.
✈🇺🇸👋 Hello USA!#TheMagiciansOfTheBall ✨ pic.twitter.com/Tv6TSuYAYF
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) July 25, 2018
While one picture showed the team captains together in the first-class seating, it quickly became apparent through others social media that the women were not sitting there. Twitter fan account, Barça women pointed out the discrepancy and quickly garnered attention through a series of tweets. The twitter account finally drew out a response from Barcelona stating its regret on the situation and was an oversight as the club booked the men before the women had joined the tour.
FC Barcelona seems to be working through the issue and correcting the oversight. It made it clear that both the men and women’s teams would be flying in the same class on their connecting flights and that the women still “traveled in comfortable places.”
Boys in the front, girls in the back. Funny how you don’t get to see the women’s seats, but a big fuss made of them before boarding the aircraft!https://t.co/YHwDuGQAlj
— Barça Women (@BarcaWomen) July 25, 2018
Barcelona striker Alexia Putellas said, “The club had made an effort to organize everything at practically the last minute.”
