Marta Cox has threatened to never play for Panama again after the president of the Panamanian Football Federation branded her “fat” and “unfit”.
Manuel Arias made the comments after Cox complained about the facilities in Panama following the team's group stage exit in the CONCACAF Gold Cup last month.
The players' union (FIFPro) described the president's statements as “unacceptable.”
“If this kind of situation becomes constant, I will not return to the national team,” midfielder Cox said.
“There were words used to describe me that definitely hurt me and were not expected.”
The 26-year-old, who plays for Tijuana in Mexico's Liga MX Femenil, scored Panama's first goal at the Women's World Cup last summer – a free-kick from 35 yards out during the match. 6-3 defeat to France.
Panama exited after failing to obtain any point during its three group matches, just as happened in the first edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, which concludes on Sunday with the United States of America facing Brazil in the final.
Cox's comments angered FIFA president Arias, who said: “Marta Cox stopped to talk about our league. She is not in good shape, she is fat, she cannot move on the pitch.
“It's very easy to talk, but she hasn't known anything about the Panamanian league for years. She doesn't know what's going on here.”
“There is still a lot of work to be done”
Panama participated in the Women's World Cup finals for the first time last year, and conceded 11 goals and scored three goals. In the Gold Cup, they conceded 13 goals and scored only one goal.
In a statement via the Association of Professional Footballers of Panama, Cox said: “After the World Cup, I expected much more. That desire to see steady progress prompted me to speak out after the unfortunate performance in the Gold Cup.
He added: “We are the first to realize that we were not at the championship level, but this same reflection must go beyond the players only.”
FIFA issued an apology for Arias' comments, saying that “he himself pledged not to repeat this.”
The union added: “On International Women’s Day… we regret the unfortunate term used by our president.
“At the Federation, we are committed to continuing to work for women’s football, as we have been doing for the past five years through women-focused sports and training programmes.
“However, we know there is still a lot of work to do.”
