Vancouver Rise FC kicks off new Canadian professional women’s soccer league Wednesday

It’s kick-off day for the first-ever Canadian women’s professional soccer league, and it’s a homecoming of sorts — on and off the pitch.

“To me, it’s just surreal, every day when I actually step back and think about it,” Vancouver Rise FC player Shannon Woeller said. “I can’t imagine … I can’t believe this is my life right now.”

A born and raised Vancouverite, Woeller is following in the footsteps of icons like Diana Matheson and Christine Sinclair. But with one distinct difference.

Those Team Canada superstars never had the chance to play professional soccer in their home country — something the new Northern Super League intends to correct.

“D and I grew up with different, I don’t know, with different possibilities than what young Canadians have today,” Sinclair told CityNews on Tuesday.

Six teams from across the country are participating in the inaugural season, with the first game at BC Place between the Vancouver Rise FC and the Calgary Wild. The first game of the NSL campaign follows 10 weeks of pre-season preparation for each of the league’s six teams.

“We were building women’s soccer abroad. We were building women’s soccer in the U.S. We were building women’s soccer in Mexico. We were building women’s soccer in Denmark. Like, let’s build it here, because we have such incredible people,” Matheson, founder of the NSL, explained.

Finally approaching kick off is a bit like the emergence of spring, said Rise head coach Anja Heiner-Moller. “We’re just ready to get started and so excited,” she said. “We want to give the best we have that day and be able to enjoy it because this is a day of celebration.”

Vancouver’s club has deep ties with the Canadian national women’s team. Soccer legend Sinclair is part of the ownership group and former Canadian ‘keeper Stephanie Labbe is the sporting director.

The Rise roster includes Quinn, who won gold with Canada at the Tokyo Olympics and spent six seasons playing for the Seattle Reign in the National Women’s Soccer League before signing with Vancouver. The midfielder is joined by fellow Reign alumni Nikki Stanton and American forward Jasmyne Spencer.

Many of the league’s players are Canadians who have so far had to make their careers overseas.

“I never really thought it would be possible, because … there’s tonnes of youth that have massively bright futures ahead and now there’s finally a platform for them to play,” Calgary player Christine Gray said.

And for these players, and former players, Canadian women’s soccer is coming home.

With files from The Canadian Press.