August monthly newsletter
Three Highlights
Two more NSL Brands unveiled
What a treat of a month it was in terms of NSL announcements. After going months with no info at all, it was awesome to see two more teams unveil their brands. First, Ottawa Rapid FC introduced themselves to their community at TD Place, the stadium they’ll call home in 2025. Their sleek logo features a Peregrine Falcon, the world’s fastest animal, in an attack position. The negative space between the wings is a nod to Ottawa’s rivers, while the circular badge and concentric circles highlight the O in Ottawa. The shades of blue refer to water and sky while the orange accent is a reference to the Centennial flame. All in all, fans were excited about the branding and to finally get some information about the club which will be led by Tomas Gilbert (CEO), Kristina Kiss (Technical Director), Heidi Bloomfield (Sporting Director), and Stephanie Spruston (COO).
Vancouver followed suit at the end of the month with probably the coolest launch event so far. The who’s who of Canadian soccer attended the event hosted by TSN’s Kate Beirness. As previously noted, the Whitecaps branding was off the table due to issues with MLS, but perhaps that would have been the case regardless given the controversial past of the women’s Whitecaps program. The new branding did not disappoint. Welcome to the Vancouver Rise FC era. There are subtle similarities with the Whitecaps logo, namely the mountain peaks, but it is more distinct than initially anticipated. The teal, black, and gold colourway looks sleek and is importantly, different from other club logos which have been red and blue. Overall, fans reacted positively and they got even more excited after Christine Sinclair teased an upcoming announcement regarding her involvement with Rise FC.
NWSLPA signs ground-breaking CBA (again)
Stop me if I’ve said this before. NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman recently signed a historic CBA with the NWSL Players association! Ah yes, that sounds familiar. The last CBA was ratified in 2022 and was the league’s first CBA at the time. The new one signed this month aimed to align with the broadcast deal and offers many improvements including the abolition of the draft, drastically increased salary cap and minimums, and free agency for all. The minimum salary jumps from 42 to 83k as early as 2025. The salary cap will rise from 3.3 to 5.1 million by 2030. Additionally, new standards have been set in terms of the number of medical and mental health staff. Last but not least, players must now consent to all proposed trades. According to the commissioner, these steps were taken to increase the NWSL’s competitiveness for top talent in the global marketplace. She noted on Full-Time with Meg Linehan that the league officials decided to re-negotiate following the Women’s World Cup last summer as they felt that NWSL players didn’t feature enough in the knockout stages. This is another massive step for the NWSL and one you absolutely love to see. You have to wonder how it’ll affect the NSL who were hoping to compete for talent but now no longer have a comparable minimum salary. Stay tuned.
Lacasse, Beckie, Proulx are on the move
Once again, Canadians are in high demand this summer transfer season. All in all, we’ve seen 31 transfers so far. This month, the biggest ones have been centered around the NWSL. First, Cloe Lacasse shocked us by announcing her departure from Arsenal after only one season in London. Rumours say that she is now the best paid player in Utah’s squad which is exactly what she deserves given her long and winding path to the top of women’s football. She already made her debut for the Royals and she’ll continue to wear #24, meaning the Court, Utah’s official SG, can continue singing the famed ‘Twenty fouuuuur’ cheer. Shortly after that announcement, Janine Beckie was traded to Louisville in exchange for Reilyn Turner. Portlanada fans were not happy but at least we know that she had to consent to the trade given the CBA’s new rules. Beckie also made her debut for her new club this weekend and looked good off the bench, creating a couple dangerous opportunities. Last but not least, Lysianne Proulx said ‘arrivederci’ to San Jose/ Bay FC, opting to join Juventus, likely due to limited minutes since May. This will be her fourth club in two years since turning pro in the Fall of 2022.
League in Focus: Bundesliga, Serie A, Liga BPI
European football is back!! Oh how we missed those weekend morning matches. Three major leagues return this weekend. Portugal’s Liga BPI, Italy’s Serie A, and the German Bundesliga will all feature Canadians this season. But who should you watch out for and how can you watch games? Let’s go one by one…
Portugal - Liga BPI
Tons of Canadians have found their way to Portugal over the past several years. We call it the Cloe Lacasse effect. The striker from Sudbury, ON is Benfica’s all-time leading scorer with over 100 goals. She largely opened the door to fellow Canadians to make the move to Liga BPI, including players like Mimi Alidou and Chandra Davidson who currently play for UWCL participants Benfica. Alidou in particular has taken on Lacasse’s legacy. She scored 26 goals and notched three assists in her first year with the club.
Speaking of the Benfica duo, they’ll play against Nordsjaelland this week en route to group stage qualification. If they can win their semi-final they have a good chance of advancing, They’d have to beat an Icelandic or Bosnian team in the final, which is more than realistic given their impressive run to the quarter-finals last season.
Other Canadians include fullback Megane Sauve, who will unfortunately miss much of the first half of the season for Sporting due to injury. Just in her second year as a pro, she looked good enough with Valadares last year, to earn a move to the historic club for 2024/25. Keep an eye out for her this winter.
Melissa Dagenais is once again minding the SF Damaiense net in 24/25. The goalkeeper from Saint-Hubert played 9 games for SFD after joining them last Winter. Keep an eye on the tall and athletic keeper this season as she pushes for another CanWNT camp, her last was in October of 2023. She has a new Canadian teammate in Tianna Harris who joins from Fleury in France. The defender got off to a hot start, scoring her first goal in her first game for the club. The 24-year-old Whitby native and North Mississauga L1O and Kent State alumni is one to watch this season.
Further up the Portuguese coast, you’ll find another Canadian duo. Montreal-born Besties Karima Lemire and Anyssa Ibrahim signed with Clube de Albergaria this off-season, both joining from German club Potsdam, where they helped the club earn promotion to the Bundesliga. Anyssa Ibrahim is a midfielder who represented Canada at three youth world cups. More recently, she’s been called in to represent Haiti at the senior level. Similarly, defender and UQAM alumni, Karima Lemire, has also been involved in the YNT program in the past.
Kayla Goncalves is another (new) Canadian face in Portugal. The SFU alumni from Vaughan, ON signed a one-year deal with FC Famalicao this off-season. The midfielder spent the last couple years playing pro in France and Luxembourg, but this might be her shot to make more of a name for herself in Portugal. It’ll be interesting to see how Goncalves adjusts to life in a higher quality league. She jumped right into the starting XI for their first league match.
Last, but not least, dual-national Madalena Marau tore her ACL last season, so she’s not quite ready to play yet. Once she returns to the pitch, keep an eye on the left-footed LB who has represented the Portuguese U23s in the past.
Italy - Serie A
The Serie A is back! Opening weekend did not disappoint. We had a 6:3 Juventus win, Inter sent a message with a 5-goal win, and Roma slipped up with a 2:2 tie against local rivals Lazio. Canadians didn’t feature very much in week one. Reigning golden boot winner, Evelyne Viens, was an unused sub for Roma. It’s unclear whether she is out injured, being rested, or integrated slowly.
Nevertheless, expect a lot of goals from the CanWNT star. She has scored over 10 goals every season since going pro in 2020. Regardless of where she plays - France, Sweden, now Italy, she always finds a way to find the back of the net. Her game has grown significantly since she was drafted fifth by Gotham FC in 2020. Her hold-up play remains solid, but it’s her speed on the counter, her instinct in the box, and her off-ball movement that make her one of the best strikers in the club game. At times, she was used as a left winger last season to allow Giacinti to play centrally, and she did quite well.
Other Canadians in the league include newly transferred Lysianne Proulx. The goalkeeper left the NWSL’s Bay FC for Juventus after seeing her role diminish with the expansion side. The 25-year-old from Longueuil, QC is expected to be the backup keeper for the Bianconeri. French international Pauline Peyraud-Magnin holds the starting position, but perhaps Proulx can make a case for becoming her successor sooner rather than later.
Down in Serie B, keep an eye on Ottawa-native Margot Shore. Shore is a 27-year-old goalkeeper who has been thriving in the second tier of Italian football since graduating from Ottawa in 2018, This season, she’ll suit up for Bologna. Notably, she’s been part of several senior Italian national team squads in the past year.
A couple more Canucks in the lower divisions include Heidi Giles who’s in her second year with Genoa, and Alicia Tamburro, a veteran midfielder for Roma Res.
Germany - Bundesliga
Over in the Bundesliga, one of the most under radar strikers in our player pool recently made a big move to Leverkusen. After a successful few years in Portugal, Caroline Kehrer signed a long-term deal with the German side. The 27-year-old forward from Winnipeg scored three goals in pre-season and started the first match of the season last weekend. Check out this interview if you’re looking to learn more about Kehrer.
“The whole environment here is very competitive in a positive sense and you can see that in the mentality of my teammates. It's great fun to do my job with such intensity. I didn't experience that in Portugal. Of course, I had to get used to things at first but now I'm getting into more of a rhythm.” - Caroline Kehrer
The only other senior player in Germany this season is Cecilia Way. The Queens alumni spent last season in the third division with Mainz 05 where she made an instant impact in her first year as a pro. Her transfer to second Bundesliga side SC Sand means she’ll have to adjust to a higher level. She’s started two of three matches so far and her next one is against none other than FC Bayern in the DFB Pokal.
Lastly, 18-year-old defender Christine Eiblmeier is rostered for Frankfurt’s third team and has appeared in one match this season.
Local Footy
Let’s keep this section short because we’ve got an exciting piece about the Northern Super League dropping in the coming days. Here are two key storylines in domestic soccer from August.
Whitecaps win Interprovincials, Qualify for CONCACAF Champions Cup
The best youth soccer team in the country proved, once again, that they are the best youth soccer team in the country. Despite missing plenty of players who were off to school the Whitecaps came away with their second consecutive L1 Interprovincial Championship. You can read all about that in our recent newsletter sent from the Tim Hortons Field press box.
Since then, the Whitecaps successfully qualified for the CONCACAF Champions Cup by defeating El Salvadorian side Alianza 1-0 in San Salvador. Emily Wong was the hero of the day. She scored a penalty in the first half and the Whitecaps were able to hold on for the win.
It was pretty cool to see the kids qualify for the tournament, but it also became clear rather quickly that they are mainly a bunch of 15-17 year-old youth players. Their first group stage match vs Club America was a 7:0 blowout in Mexico. They take on Santa Fe in Panama this evening. Catch that one on Youtube at 8pm ET/ 5pm PT.
CanXNT/YNT News
It’s been radio silence on the CanXNT front since the Olympics ended. We don’t know whether Fall friendlies will be scheduled. We don’t know whose coaching moving forward. We don’t know anything. Good thing is woso fans are notoriously great with uncertainty…
Until we have more information fans can focus on cheering on our U20 team who won their first World Cup game since 2014 last night.
In a group B with France, Fiji, and Brazil, Canada knew they had to come out strong from the beginning of this tournament vs France, and then pump Fiji to advance in the group. They’ve put themselves in a great position to do just that thanks to their 3:3 tie with France, and subsequent 9:0 win vs Fiji.
Usports Soccer is BACK!
One door closes, another one opens. While League 1 soccer may be over until next Spring, fans can still watch high quality domestic women’s soccer this Fall. It’s Usports soccer season.
This season may be the most crucial one yet. With NSL training camps on the horizon next January, domestic collegiate players will look to impress and earn one of those coveted roster spots.
The first National rankings are already out after the first weekend of play. The typical powerhouses lead the way.
As usual, we’ve got you covered for all things Usports women’s soccer in the coming months. Stay tuned!
The roster is glorious, one of the best we’ve seen at this level since the mid 2010s. The most exciting thing about the roster is that the best players are attackers. Olivia Smith is one of the best players in the tournament. Period. The Liverpool attacker scored a brace vs Fiji and got a goal and assist vs France, too. She is complemented well by Annabelle Chukwu. Ottawa’s own, and the new record youth national team scorer, with 29. She shattered Christine Sinclair’s record with her hat-trick vs Fiji and she’s only 17 years old.
Fans and NSL scouts alike were happy to see a Canadian side that looks confident and connected. This group of players has us feeling hopeful for our venture past the group stage at a FIFA Youth World Cup since the fourth place finish in 2018. Tune in for the next game vs Brazil on Friday, September 6th at 9pm ET/6pm PT.
In other news, the CanW15 team came in third at the CONCACAF Championship in Mexico. They defeated Costa Rica 2-1 in the final. Coach Tina Cook and her players had a few impressive performances, including a close match with the Americans in the semis which they lost in PKs. Congratulations, Baby Reds!
