Meet The Northern Super League. Canada starts its first professional women's football league
Canada has launched its first professional women's soccer league, the Northern Super League (NSL), in April 2025. The league features six teams from major cities: Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, and Halifax. The NSL was created by former Canadian international Diana Matheson to provide local opportunities for female soccer players, so they no longer need to go abroad to play professionally. The league's first match took place on April 16, 2025, between Vancouver Rise and Calgary Wild at BC Place in Vancouver. The game attracted over 14,000 fans, and Vancouver's Quinn scored the league's first goal with a penalty kick.
The NSL aims to support players with fair salaries, maternity benefits, and housing assistance. Canadian women's soccer players have gold medals from the Tokyo Olympics, but most of them have gone abroad to pursue their careers.
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