Sinclair elevated women's soccer; she's helping Canada's new league do the same

During Women's History Month in March, theScore is publishing stories that illustrate how women in sports lead, inspire change, and navigate their careers.

Christine Sinclair watched the United States more than Canada in women's soccer as a kid. She found the rival team's matches more accessible, even north of the border in her home province of British Columbia.

"I had a Mia Hamm jersey, (it's) sad to say," Sinclair, whose 190 international goals are most by any female or male player in history, told theScore.

Like watching the USWNT on television, the shirt wasn't her first choice.

"(I) couldn't find a Canadian jersey anywhere," Sinclair remembered. "Especially a women's one."

Times have certainly changed. The difference between the Canadian women's soccer landscape then and now, Sinclair says, is "night and day." The beloved ex-striker who captained Canada to three successive Olympic medals from 2012 to 2021, culminating with a historic gold in Tokyo, deserves plenty of the credit for the growth and increased popularity of soccer in the country. Today, the considerably brighter outlook also owes much to the Northern Super League (NSL), the nation's first professional women's soccer league that begins its inaugural season April 16.

Sinclair recognized that Canada's success couldn't last without a pathway for the next generation to flourish. She was concerned the good times would fizzle out.

"I thought, without a professional league, our national team would get passed by sooner or later by these other countries that were investing in their domestic leagues," the co-owner of the NSL's Vancouver Rise explained.

Sinclair spent 12 years with the Portland Thorns of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) before retiring in November at 41. She has first-hand experience of how the U.S. league presented extra chances for women to forge careers in the professional game. Players who otherwise might have dropped out of the sport suddenly had more scope to develop and eventually shine in a professional environment, possibly earning international recognition with their country. Crucially, many of those footballers were American.

The NSL now opens that same avenue to Canadians.

"We're women, we're always gonna be fighting for stuff, but the opportunities that these guys will have now - whether it's going overseas, whether it's wanting to stay at home, whether it's playing in America - they can have the choice," Sinclair said, noting that she never had the chance to play professionally in Canada.

She added, "I fear that we lost a lot of talent, a lot of young players that at some point had to move on with their lives and move on with another career because there weren't opportunities."

In addition to no professional league being at home until this year, squad restrictions in the United States and overseas also denied talented Canadians access to the pro game. The NWSL, for instance, had only seven non-U.S. roster spots in a squad of up to 26 players last season. Jessie Fleming was among the high-profile acquisitions in 2024 as she swapped English champions Chelsea for the Portland Thorns, but there wasn't an influx of Canadians. The huge impacts of fellow newcomers Barbra Banda and Racheal Kundananji (both Zambian), Ann-Katrin Berger (German), Temwa Chawinga (Malawian), Leicy Santos (Colombian), and many others emphasized that the whole world is competing for the NWSL's coveted few international player slots.

By contrast, between 68% and 100% of NSL rosters will be homegrown. However, Sinclair believes the league could promise Canadians much more than just regular minutes. Female athletes' playing salaries were 21 times smaller than the contracts of their male counterparts in 2022, leading women to take 82% of their annual income from off-field arrangements such as sponsorships and endorsements, according to research by Wasserman. Sinclair anticipates Canadians will get better chances to boost their profiles and therefore supplement their earnings at home rather than in leagues such as the NWSL.

"The opportunities that these players will get financially to play at home for sponsorships, the opportunities that will present themselves in each market - it's not the same that you have in the U.S. No offense, (but) if you're a Canadian player playing in the U.S., no one cares about you," Sinclair, a winner of three NWSL championships with Portland, observed.

"(The NSL is) an opportunity for these players to make a name for themselves."

But the biggest benefit of the NSL is long term: to inspire the next generation. The six founding teams - Calgary Wild, Halifax Tides, Montreal Roses, Ottawa Rapid, AFC Toronto, and Vancouver Rise - will deliver a constant stream of professional women's games between April and November, available to watch on linear television, digital streaming platforms, and in the stadiums themselves. More visibility creates more role models for youngsters to follow. Watching professional Canadian women is no longer strictly for international windows or club competitions in other countries.

Sinclair had little choice but to wear a Mia Hamm jersey. The next Canadian superstar-in-the-making won't face the same predicament.

"With this league, there's going to be so many benefits, but that is going to be one of them: there's a place for young girls to dream and aspire to reach," Sinclair said.

Lesser-known players are melding with established names in the NSL squads. Sinclair is delighted to have former international teammate Quinn in Vancouver after the 29-year-old midfielder left the NWSL's Seattle Reign. Other Canadian icons such as Erin McLeod (Halifax Tides) and Desiree Scott (Ottawa Rapid) were encouraged to put their retirements on hold to play in their homeland.

Just don't expect to see Sinclair on the pitch alongside them.

Despite the best efforts of Vancouver sporting director Stephanie Labbe, the former goalkeeper who backstopped Canada to Olympic gold in 2021, Sinclair won't be joining the lineup of players gracing the NSL.

"Absolutely not. Nope. I see Erin doing it, I see Desi (Scott) doing it, and Steph Labbe, she's like, 'Just play one season.' And I'm like, 'Dude, no,'" Sinclair said.

"I played as long as I could. I don't want to play anymore. I want to stay involved in the game and help grow the game, but I have not touched a soccer ball since my last game in Portland and I am A-OK with it."