Football fans in Montreal, rejoice: a professional women’s soccer team will see the light of day next spring, in a brand new Canadian league.
Montreal will have its circuit club led by former player Diana Matheson, whose code name “Project 8” will very soon be abandoned in favor of the real name of the league.
The Press met the two co-founders of the team on Monday noon at the Le Germain hotel in downtown Montreal. These are the dragoness Isabèle Chevalier and Jean-François Crevier, two personalities from the Quebec business community. They were accompanied by Matheson, CEO of Project 8, for this interview of just under 30 minutes.
The enthusiasm of the two new owners is overflowing. Their vision is focused on continuing to grow the women’s sports movement. Their desire to invest was born from an article by Justin Vézina for The Pressin March 2023.
Read Justin Vézina’s article
“I read the article, and I felt like I had a call,” explains Jean-François Crevier. I want to participate in this. I contacted the league, quite simply, to see how I could get involved. Quickly, she came back to me, and we started to see how it could be done. »
Her first phone call then was directed to her “friend” Isabèle Chevalier.
“We decided to buy the franchise in July 2023,” indicates Crevier, notably president of the Crevier Group. At the entry cost of a million dollars.
Montreal becomes the fifth confirmed team on the circuit, after Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Halifax. The sixth and final team to join the league for its first year will be announced shortly.
The six clubs will be co-owners of the circuit.
“It took months of work to get all the parts to come together,” says Chevalier. And finally, we signed everything on Friday [dernier]. »
“It’s two people, but in fact, the vision is really for it to be the club of Montrealers, of Quebecers,” adds the former CEO of Bio-K+, a Quebec probiotics company. We want there to be a Quebec belonging. The idea is to open it up to our business, sporting, arts and cultural community, so that everyone is the owner. »
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Isabèle Chevalier
To do this, the co-founders want to invite future supporters of their team to become investors in the club. Not so that popular financing becomes the franchise’s business model, but rather “to seek the feeling of belonging among the fans”.
“We want to create a collective movement,” says Crevier. We are in the process of defining what kind of advantages we want to give to these supporters [en échange de leur contribution]. It’s going to be something that we’ll be able to say shortly, but in the meantime, on our site, people will be able to express their interest. »
“Shared custody” of stadiums
We hear your questions from here, dear readers. Where will they play? Where will they train? When will they play?
Let’s already resolve the question of the calendar and its format. The 25-game season will run from April to November, like in the Canadian Premier League (PLC) or MLS. There will be a playoff, with two semi-finals in a home-and-away format involving the top four teams, and a final at a predetermined location.
This means that there will be around a dozen home games. The question of the stadium was obviously underlined in broad strokes in our notebook in anticipation of this interview.
“What is almost certain is that we will have shared custody, a bit like the LPHF, with stadiums of different sizes,” says Crevier.
We list the venues that can host soccer in Montreal. There is the Saputo stadium, the CEPSUM and the Claude-Robillard sports complex.
“There are perhaps others,” replies Crevier. It is certain that there is not a lot of infrastructure as such. It remains a challenge for a project like ours. We’re still finalizing that. »
PHOTO ALAIN ROBERGE, THE PRESS
Jean-François Crevier
According to our information, discussions have taken place to use the Saputo stadium, but the home of CF Montreal will not become the team’s official stadium.
Do we have any idea of the ticket prices? Models have been designed for all stages considered, but this will be evaluated next fall. “All plans are viable” with the aim of “not losing money with this”, says Chevalier.
When the subject of the training center comes up in the discussion, we notice that the two owners have done their homework. Isabèle Chevalier says that they surveyed “top global talents” to assess their needs in this area.
“They play for lots of clubs, like Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona, different clubs in the United States,” she says. It’s to see which elements they liked best. What brings you the most, as a professional player? What do you need to be attracted? We made a best of, and that’s what we’re trying to reproduce here. »
“Francophonie” is an “asset” to attract players to Montreal, she said, but one of the “primordial points” is “the quality of the facilities and the environment for training.”
Chevalier says he has “interesting options,” adding that he wants to establish a “world-class environment.”
“It’s an incredible market”
For Diana Matheson, it was natural to have a team in Quebec. Particularly because the pool of players is so rich.
“The Canadian team’s youth programs are always full of players from Quebec,” says the former midfielder. We wanted to be where the players are, in the biggest Canadian cities. And where we know that a club can be successful. Who wouldn’t want to come play here, in Montreal? The identity of the club will be so powerful. It’s an incredible market. »
Until now, the exile of Canadian players has “been one of the great sadnesses” of women’s sport here, underlines Isabèle Chevalier.
“We have great talents, but they all have to live abroad,” she says. This is the strength of the launch of this league in Canada. Lots of girls will want to come back, their family is here, they will want to reconnect. It’s truly a beautiful call. »