Global Courant 2023-04-26 15:01:00
For Diana Matheson, “this one is a little personal.”
The Canadian professional women’s soccer league, which will start in 2025, announced its third franchise on Wednesday: AFC Toronto City.
Vancouver Whitecaps FC and the Calgary Foothills, the other two teams, were announced in December alongside the league itself, which is run by a company called Project 8, of which Matheson is co-founder and CEO.
Matheson, from Oakville, Ontario, called Toronto a “hub for sports.”
“I know how impactful it would have been for me as a young girl growing up playing soccer in Oakville to have a professional women’s team on the road,” the ex-national team member told CBC Sports. “The sky’s the limit for a team in Toronto.”
AFC Toronto City becomes the region’s first-ever professional women’s soccer team.
“This will only help grow the game and build a larger community and stronger player opportunities in an already talented city,” said Matheson.
LOOK | Matheson discusses Toronto franchise with CBC Sports:
Canadian professional women’s soccer league announces Toronto as 3rd franchise
Diana Matheson, the CEO of Project 8, shares her excitement about a professional women’s soccer team coming to Toronto. Vancouver and Calgary have previously been announced as team locations.
The announcement may also spark a wave of momentum for professional women’s sports in Canada — a market labeled as “significantly underdeveloped” and valued at between $150 and $200 million in a report written by leaders of the field released Monday.
The report, led by Canadian Women and Sport, said most of that market is derived from periodic events such as the Olympics and CP Women’s Open, but “the road to a vibrant professional women’s sports market in Canada is through leagues and teams on the market.”
The Professional Women’s Hockey Players’ Association is reportedly set to launch a formal competition, with nearly all players from the North American rosters at the recently completed World Championship coming this fall.
And the WNBA is hosting its first ever game in Canada in May, an exhibition featuring Canadian Olympian Bridget Carleton.
Women in top positions
AFC Toronto City will feature three women in leadership positions.
Helena Ruken, president of the North Toronto Soccer Club, will become CEO of the team, while Brenda Ha, a fellow board member, will become COO and Jill Burgin, a marketing professional, will be named CMO.
“We are a group of passionate advocates for justice, diversity and inclusion, and we are excited to gather even more partners, supporters and our local community to join us on this journey to kick-off professional women’s soccer in Toronto,” Ruken said.
LOOK | Matheson announces competition to kick off 2025:
Diana Matheson Announces Canada’s Professional Women’s Soccer League Coming in 2025
2x Olympic medalist Diana Matheson announces she is launching a Canadian professional women’s soccer league to begin in Spring 2025.
Matheson said the league will announce franchises as they come until all eight spots are filled. She said a league name is on deck, possibly by the summer.
“We have good interest in about two-thirds of the markets we want to be in, but we could use some more leads,” said Matheson. “So Prairies, I’m watching you. We’d love to hear from you.”
Matheson added that Canada Soccer has been “amazing behind the scenes” as it pursues league membership and sanctions from the National Sports Body.
The league also announced DoorDash as its fourth corporate sponsor, joining CIBC, Air Canada and Canadian Tire.
“The business model, the reason this thing works in 2025 is because Canadian companies step up and get behind it,” Matheson said.
