After the Canadian men’s national soccer team flamed out of the World Cup, a new group is trying to keep the fever alive and well… only with a focus on women players.
What happened: Canada’s first-ever pro women’s soccer league is set to kick off in 2025 with the backing of Project 8, a company co-founded by former player Diana Matheson. The league is also enlisting the help of the GOAT Christine Sinclair and Stephanie Labbé.
Why it matters: Canada is the only country in the FIFA top 20 women’s rankings without its own domestic pro women’s league. Project 8 aims to keep players at home while also capitalizing on the popularity of the country’s fastest-growing sport.
- Two of the eight proposed founding teams are already confirmed (in Calgary and Vancouver), and CIBC and Air Canada are confirmed as the first official sponsors.
- But a lot still needs to be done, including naming the league (important IMO), signing a broadcast deal, getting more sponsors, and finding owners for the six other teams.
This upstart league will face direct competition in the US-based National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), where many of Canada’s pro women players currently compete.
- Surely, the new league doesn’t want to be the CFL of women’s soccer. Aka, the place where players reluctantly go to when they can’t cut it in their sport’s top league.
- Project 8 pledged to pay similar salaries to other women’s leagues to stay competitive and shared ambitions for a future tournament against NWSL teams.
What’s next: Sinclair reached out to Ryan Reynolds to gauge the famous Canadian sports fan’s ownership interest, but he might be focused on getting a piece of the Ottawa Senators.