When Bruny Surin comes to you, and not the other way around, that’s further proof of the attractiveness of your operation.
The Montreal women’s soccer team of the Super League North (SLN) announced Thursday that the Canadian athletics legend has joined the club as an ambassador-investor. “The first of many that we will announce in the weeks and months to come,” the team added on Instagram Thursday morning.
The franchise from the Quebec metropolis, whose name and brand image have not yet been revealed, will kick its first balls in SLN in the spring of 2025, at the same time as the league.
“I was the one who took the first steps,” Surin reveals in a telephone interview with The Press at the end of the day, with the enthusiastic tone that we know well. It’s something that is close to my heart.”
That “something” is women’s sports, and more specifically women’s soccer. The two daughters of the gold medalist in the 4x100m relay in Atlanta in 1996 were already top athletes. Surin is also a “big fan” of football.
The man who will fly to Paris on Saturday as the Canadian team’s chef de mission heard about SLN’s Montreal project at the Unmatched conference, organized by Tennis Canada over the past two years. The event promotes gender parity in sport.
The fact that the subject piqued Bruny Surin’s interest at this conference in the summer of 2023 is therefore not insignificant.
“I want girls to have the same chance as boys,” he said. “We know there’s been a lot of improvement today, but we still have a long way to go. And if I can put in my two cents, why not?”
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Former Canadian player Diana Matheson (centre), CEO of the new six-team women’s league, with Isabèle Chevalier and Jean-François Crevier, co-owners of the Montreal team, last May
Growing Interest in Women’s Soccer
Back in Montreal after his visit to Toronto, Surin reached out to his network of contacts.
“I immediately knew I had to find a way to get involved.”
He learns that Jean-François Crevier is a co-founder of the Montreal group. From their first meeting, the two men “clicked”. Crevier tells him that Isabelle Chevalier, whom Bruny Surin “has known for at least fifteen years”, is also on board as a co-founder.
The amount invested by the four-time Olympian is obviously confidential. But a personality of his caliber does not get financially involved in just any company.
It is assumed that the Montreal project must be well put together if he has decided to be one of its ambassadors.
“Absolutely,” he replied to our question. “At first, I really wanted to see who was behind the project. […] I know the history of the Crevier family, which has had a lot of success in Quebec entrepreneurship. What also struck me about him was that he was someone who was super successful, while being down to earth. He is someone who is passionate.”
How will this “ambassador-investor” partnership with the Montreal SLN team translate now?
“I’m going to help from a marketing and advertising perspective,” Surin said. “I’m going to be there, I’m going to come to the games. I’m going to bring my friends. It’s really the promotional side that I want to do. […] I have a lot of friends who are entrepreneurs. I’m definitely going to bring them into this to get even more interest in women’s soccer. That’s one of the goals I’ve set for myself.”