A team — and league — of our own

North American interest in soccer is at an all-time high. No wonder, given that Canada, Mexico and the United States have hosted the men’s World Cup for the past seven weeks.

Every four years, the men’s World Cup final is the most-watched sporting event around the globe — the 2022 version drew 1.4 billion viewers, compared to just 125.6 million for the 2026 NFL Super Bowl — and enthusiasm for the sport has been infectious in towns and cities across the continent this summer, even those not hosting matches.

So, it wasn’t really a surprise when Canada’s professional women’s soccer league — the Northern Super League — chose a day in the last week of the World Cup to announce that Winnipeg will be home to the NSL’s seventh club, set to begin play in 2027.

For Winnipeg’s soccer community, the announcement was a most-welcome boost after the demise of the city’s men’s pro squad, Valour FC of the Canadian Premier League, last November, when the Winnipeg Football Club, which operates the CFL Blue Bombers, announced it was shutting down the soccer team after seven seasons.

The demise of the Valour club was not unexpected. The CPL and the Bombers never seemed a good fit. But the city’s soccer community — clubs, volunteer organizers, provincial and city associations as well as thousands of adult and youth players — firmly believes pro soccer will work in Winnipeg with a sport-specific facility, a team run by soccer people and a league with a sustainable business plan.

Two of those three considerations are in place, and the third is on the way.

The NSL Winnipeg franchise’s public-facing co-founders are Desiree Scott and Rob Gale, two of the city’s highest-profile soccer people, and both will take active roles with the new sporting enterprise.

Scott is, without doubt, Winnipeg’s most-decorated soccer player. She played professionally for clubs in three different countries, competed at three World Cups and won medals with the national women’s team at three Summer Olympic Games — two bronzes, in 2012 and 2016, and a miraculous gold in 2021. She will serve as vice-president of community and player experience for the NSL Winnipeg team.

Gale was the first coach and general manager of Valour FC, and last season coached the Portland Thorns of the National Women’s Soccer League in the U.S. He’s also the former technical director of the Manitoba Soccer Association and will be chief sporting officer of the new club.

The Northern Soccer League, meanwhile, is on firm footing as a business enterprise.

Last year, in its first season, the NSL’s six clubs — in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Ottawa — generated over $30 million in revenue and drew 275,000 fans across 80 matches.

Just a couple of weeks ago, European sports investment firm Apex bought in to the league in a deal worth up to US$30 million in a transaction that valued the league at US$85 million.

Co-founded by former national team player Diana Matheson, the NSL enables young Canadian players to earn a living while developing closer to home, rather than plying their trade in the U.S. or overseas.

The league’s timing is good, as the growth of professional women’s sports leagues has been exponential in the past two decades. The WNBA has been going since 1996, the NWSL is the best-attended women’s soccer league in the world and the rapid ascent of the Professional Women’s Hockey League has proven these ventures can be viable and, most importantly, that they will give female athletes opportunities to fulfill their dreams.

The last big question for the NSL Winnipeg team is where it will play. Word is the Ralph Cantafio Soccer Complex on Waverley Street will be renovated to provide the seating and amenities required for fans — the intimate soccer atmosphere Princess Auto Stadium lacked.

Those details will emerge in due course. Then Winnipeg’s first professional women’s sports team will face its ultimate test — proving that professional soccer will work here.