The Canadians won the Olympic gold medal last summer in Tokyo, after their two consecutive bronze medals in 2012 and 2016. “In the words of Christine Sinclair, if that doesn’t succeed in triggering a professional league in the Canada, I don’t know what it’s going to take. ”
These words come from Amy Walsh, a former Canadian team player.
That’s why she was listening when the Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL) said “he answered the call” to that demand on Tuesday night in a post announcing her arrival in the Canadian sporting landscape. Besides the fact that the cities of Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver were mentioned there, the league had hitherto been miserly in comments.
We now know a little more about this announcement.
The WPSL, which has existed for 23 years in the United States, wants to “lay the foundations” of the Canadian project by establishing a semi-pro division above all. She promises to offer professional women’s soccer “within two to five years.”
We could even see the first balloon in “the summer of 2022”, according to the president of the operations of the league, Santiago Almada.
“The goal is to build the infrastructure first,” he explains.
The idea is to “create a second division before the first division,” he continues.
Asked about the financial aspect of this “Division II”, whether the players will have a salary in particular, Almada stresses that “more details will be revealed soon”.
“We want there to be a partnership with all the clubs. The objective is to have a sharing of sponsors and media rights. ”
The clubs will be “league partners”, according to the statement posted online Thursday. This governance structure is akin to what we see in other professional leagues in North America, but differs from its US offering, which already serves 135 active clubs across the border.
While the US WPSL “supports” the Canadian league, the Canadian league is a “separate entity”.
This financial model will allow them to “distribute the assets in the league, the clubs and possibly the players”.
“Our biggest constraint is traveling,” Almada adds over the phone. The country is so geographically massive that teams may have to travel 2,000 km. To help us reduce these costs, we want to have a community-based approach. ”
“We want to have even more investments to attract more sponsors, etc. This is what will start the race for this first division that we want to create later. ”
“Not everyone will be happy”
According to Amy Walsh, that waiting period before a professional league is too long.
“It’s fine to have that in two to five years, but it’s too far for me,” she laments on the phone.
Because, besides the athletes who are in the crosshairs of Canada coach Bev Priestman, “there are elite players who are a check mark at the bottom of this pool of players.”
Without a professional league, “they have to make a choice.” “I can’t make a living playing soccer, so I have to stop,” says Walsh. [La WPSL] not for those players. ”
And Amy Walsh has another question: what about the provincial semi-pro leagues?
“Will it compete with the Premier League Soccer of Quebec (PLSQ) or the Ontario League1? ”
Julie Casselman, women’s soccer coordinator at the PLSQ, told us that she had “no information” about the WPSL.
“It’s going to be the same pool of players,” Amy Walsh believes. It will simply dilute the talent that already exists in the province. ”
Santiago Almada concedes that “not everyone will be happy with what this league will become”.
“But one of the things that will set us apart will be our inter-provincial game. It’s more of a national league than a provincial league. ”
Who will attend?
The Canadian WPSL will have two conferences, Canada East and Canada West. Almada confirms that there will not only be the four clubs from the cities already mentioned. “We will have a national approach,” he says.
So there could be teams from the Prairies, he said.
“We had the interests of all the provinces, basically. The goal is to unify those regions that did not have semi-pro teams or leagues in which to play. ”
Have teams from the CPL, or even from the MLS, shown interest?
“We had conversations with clubs of this caliber,” reveals Almada. But it doesn’t go any further, instead referring to the “application and authorization process” that is underway.
“The most important part is the permissions that the national clubs have to have. It is a requirement that is established for the organization. This is why we will be announcing the teams gradually. It makes more sense to do it slowly than quickly. ”