Matheson not tempering expectations for women’s pro soccer league

When it comes to the potential of a new women’s professional soccer league in Canada, Diana Matheson isn’t tempering expectations.

“This is going to be one of the best pro leagues in the world. We're not playing around here,” the former Canadian international said.

Matheson is co-founder and CEO of Project 8, a group that is spearheading the first women’s professional league in the country, with a planned kickoff in 2025.

Canada is playing catch-up when it comes to women’s professional soccer. The national team is currently ranked seventh in the world and is the only country inside the top 20 without its own domestic league.

Matheson, who finished her career with more than 200 caps, is eager for this new league to come out with a bang.

“Slow and steady is not the route Project 8 is going. It’s going big or go home. We know that's the secret to success in Canada,” she told TSN. “This is a professional product. The secret is we get as much money into it as possible… That's how you grow this product.”

Project 8 has already secured four key corporate sponsorships with CIBC, Air Canada, Canadian Tire and DoorDash. Matheson previously announced that the inaugural season will feature eight clubs across the country. The Vancouver Whitecaps FC and Calgary Foothills were the first teams to join the league, with AFC Toronto City becoming the third in April.

Matheson said the other team announcements will be driven by the clubs, and a league name will also be revealed in the coming months.

When it comes to filling the remaining team slots, Matheson told TSN that Project 8 is having “exciting conversations” in markets across the country, but that investment interest is also coming from abroad.

Matheson revealed that investors from countries that have seen sharp development in their own domestic leagues recently, such as Mexico and England, are reaching out and recognizing the opportunity ahead for Canada’s new league.

“I think it speaks to the visibility,” she said. “You can't be what you can't see. And I think a lot of Canadians, because we don't have women's soccer here yet, don't really know the potential that this thing has.”

Since its inception in 2016, Mexico’s Liga MX Femenil has seen tremendous growth. The first leg of last year’s final between Club América and UANL saw an attendance of 52,654 at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.

Similarly, after England won the UEFA Women’s Euro last summer, clubs in the Women’s Super League (WSL) saw unprecedented ticket sales. In 2021, Barclays, who became the title sponsor of the WSL in 2019, announced a £30 million ($51 million Canadian) investment in women's football.

“We're looking more than anything for people that share the values and understand the vision and how big this product can be. Those are the owners we're speaking to,” Matheson said.

Matheson recognizes that Canada is behind the rest of the world when it comes to the landscape of women’s soccer, and that is starting to show on the international stage, despite the national team winning gold at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.

In under-17, under-20, and senior level FIFA Women’s World Cups since 2016, Canada has only advanced past the group stage twice in eight tournaments. The under-17 team finished fourth at the 2018 U-17 World Cup, and the senior squad made it to the round of 16 at the 2019 World Cup before losing to Sweden.

Most recently, Canada’s national team was knocked out of the group stage at the 2023 Women’s World Cup after an embarrassing 4-0 loss to co-hosts, Australia.

Despite Canadian soccer falling behind other countries, Matheson, who earned her MBA from the Smith School of Business at Queen’s University, believes that Canada’s positive outlook towards women’s sports gives this new league a boost compared to other parts of the world.

“We know we're world class in women's sport, and we support it,” she said. “We're ahead of other countries. And that's a huge, huge strength for us in this country, and is an incredible foundation on which to build this pro league.”

Right now, the pathway for Canada’s best players largely goes through the NCAA in the United States. But players from around the world are turning professional at a young age. Colombia’s Linda Caicedo, who scored one of the goals of this World Cup against Germany, made her professional debut in her home country when she was 14. Now 18, she signed for Real Madrid in Spain’s Liga F earlier this year.

Matheson believes that a Canadian domestic league can have an immediate impact on the national team while also helping long-term growth. Of the 23 players that were on Canada’s World Cup roster, 13 play for European clubs, while eight ply their trade in the National Women’s Soccer League in the United States.

“It's giving a professional pathway, a professional environment, in eight markets across this country for our players, for our future players, where we know right now that's lacking in our environment,” she said. “The pathway has been supplemented by the NCAA for a generation. It's time to shift that and move our daily training environments for our current players or future players into professional environments.”

Matheson wants this new league to attract existing national team players back to Canada, while also creating a new home for the next generation.

“The future Olivia Smiths, the future Jessie Flemings, the future Jordyn Huitemas, the future Jayde Rivieres – these players are going to grow up, and they're going to play in our pro league. And I cannot wait for that. And I think even the next World Cup, we're going to have Canadian players, beside their name, it's going to have a Canadian club [listed].”