Soccer icon Christine Sinclair is joining the ownership group of NSL club Vancouver Rise

VANCOUVER – Christine Sinclair always wanted to leave football in a better place for future players.

The Canadian legend believes her latest role as part owner of Vancouver's new professional women's soccer team will do just that.

Vancouver Rise FC announced Monday that Sinclair is joining Greg Kerfoot in the club's ownership group as the National Super League prepares to launch in April.

“The future of soccer in Canada depends on the Northern Super League and clubs like Vancouver Rise,” Sinclair said in a video call. “And I feel honored and privileged to be a part of it.”

Children need to see professional women's sports to know that they too can make a living playing, the soccer star said.

“I imagine as a 10-year-old, if I had the opportunity to watch women's professional soccer every other weekend, what impact that would have had on my life, how that would have changed my life,” Sinclair said.

“Because I was convinced I was going to be a major league baseball player because that’s all I could see on TV. These young girls growing up will have a completely different reality.”

A native of Burnaby, B.C., Sinclair is one of Canada's most respected athletes and ended her international career last year as the world's leading scorer with 190 goals.

She helped the women's national team to gold at the Tokyo Olympics and bronze at both the 2016 Rio Games and the 2012 London Games.

Last month, Sinclair, 41, announced she would retire from professional soccer later this year after playing her 11th season with the Portland Thorns of the National Women's Soccer League.

The Thorns will face the Vancouver Whitecaps FC Girls Elite team in a CONCACAF W Champions Cup game at BC Place in Vancouver on October 15th before the regular season ends on November 1st.

The fact that she is unable to play professional soccer for a Vancouver team is a regret that Sinclair says will linger as her playing days come to an end.

“That would have been a dream,” said Sinclair, who previously played semi-pro soccer with the Vancouver Whitecaps in the USL W-League. “But when you know you’re done, you’re done. And I’m happy to hang up my boots at the end of this season.”

Rise sporting director Stephanie Labbe admitted she hoped her former national teammate would don a Vancouver jersey, but was sympathetic to Sinclair's decision.

“I know this feeling all too well: When you're ready to retire, you're ready to retire and move on to what's next,” Labbe said. “So it was a quick change of direction from, ‘Well, if you don’t come as a player, what else can you do? How else can we include you?'

“For me, it’s a given that Sinc will be involved in any role in the club.”

For Sinclair, starting a new league is nothing new. She was involved when the now-defunct Women's Professional Soccer debuted in 2009 and when the NWSL was founded in 2013.

Those experiences showed what's important in a new league, from how players are paid to the number of teams participating, she said.

“I think previous leagues started way too big and then weren't able to sustain themselves,” Sinclair said. “I think what the Northern Super League is doing is starting on a realistic basis.”

With six founding teams in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Halifax, the NSL will launch its inaugural season in April. Each team will play a 25-game schedule next year.

Labbe said she expects Rise to announce the club's first player signings and head coach in the next few weeks.

Sinclair declined to say how much her shareholding will be, instead calling it “a small share” and saying her job will be to raise awareness of the club and help it grow.

“Whatever they need from me, I will be there to support them,” she said.

The appetite and support for women's sports is increasing, Sinclair said, so joining the NSL “makes perfect sense.”

“Now is the time for women’s sports,” she said.

“When you travel across Canada – we've done this with the national team, of course – people are begging to be able to watch professional sports, women's professional sports, here in Canada.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 7, 2024.

Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press