Toronto (Canada), July 17 (EFE).- Nike announced this Monday that it has definitively stopped sponsoring the Canadian ice hockey federation, Hockey Canada, after it became public that the institution had used million dollars to permanently resolve numerous private cases of sexual abuse.

Other companies that traditionally sponsor the federation, such as the Canadian Tire chain of commercial establishments, the automobile manufacturer Chevrolet or the telephone company Telu, have already decided last year to cancel their financial support for the institution.

Other companies, such as the oil company Esso, Scotiabank and the Tim Hortons coffee chain, have temporarily suspended their sponsorship.

Only one company, sports equipment manufacturer Bauer Hockey, decided this month to once again become a sponsor of the federation after the institution appointed a woman, Katherine Henderson, as its new CEO.

Hockey Canada’s previous management team resigned in October 2022 after months of pressure from fans and political groups.

It is estimated that Hockey Canada lost approximately 24 million Canadian dollars (18.2 million US dollars or 16.2 million euros) in sponsorships each year, or more than 40% of the federation’s revenue.

In a statement, Nike said that while it will provide products to Canadian hockey players “under the partnership with the International Ice Hockey Federation,” the agreement with Hockey Canada “has ended.”

The scandal made Canadian media headlines in May last year, when it was revealed that Hockey Canada had reached a financial settlement with a woman to drop a lawsuit in which she accused eight players from the Canadian youth team of sexual assault in 2018.

A journalistic investigation later revealed that not only had the Canadian federation paid to keep the affair secret, but that since 1989 it had maintained a reserved fund with which it had paid millions of dollars to silence other similar affairs. EFE