Project 8 Sports names Canadian women's professional soccer league the "Northern Super League"
Project 8 Sports Canadian professional women’s soccer league took a major step towards its 2025 launch on Tuesday, revealing its name and the location of its inaugural six clubs in a landmark announcement.
Called the “Northern Super League”, it will launch in April of 2025, with its inaugural clubs based in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa, Montréal and Halifax, fulfilling Canada’s longtime need for a women’s professional circuit, showing why former Canadian international Diana Matheson decided to step up and launch this project as its CEO.
From nothing will come everything. Coming 2025. 🌌⚽️
— Northern Super League (@NorthernSuperLg) May 28, 2024
Du néant naîtra une nouvelle ère. Rendez-vous en 2025. 🌌⚽️ pic.twitter.com/HeG9bGKlaW
After announcing the NSL’s first four clubs over the last 18 months in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Halifax, the final two were revealed on Tuesday, as Montréal’s launch was confirmed early in the morning before Ottawa was later announced as the last of the league’s inaugural slate of teams that same day.
Along with reports that revealed some key details on the league’s competition format, which will see the six teams complete a 25-game regular season slate and a four-team playoff, those are all key steps ahead of the league’s launch next year.
Now, it means teams can go full steam ahead in preparing for their launch next spring, as they can now finalize their branding, sell tickets and start assembling their squads ahead of that April launch date, which should make for a busy summer for the league.
Speaking of squad-building, however, that’s another key piece of information that also emerged in those reports - the league’s salary structure, which will see teams operate under a salary cap of $1.5 million, under which they’ll construct teams made up of 20 to 25 players, which can include up to seven internationals players.
For context, that salary cap figure will immediately allow the league to compete with some top circuits, as the NWSL, for example, only recently saw its cap jump up to $2.75 million after sitting at $1.375 million in 2023, giving an idea of how big the NSL’s inaugural figure is.
With those figures, it’s hoped that the league can target some strong Canadian profiles to bring home in year one, including some Canadian Women’s National Team players, especially those playing in smaller European leagues or on the edge of NWSL rosters, who could stand to gain from the benefits of being in their own domestic circuit. Ideally, they’ll be able to poach some CanWNT regulars, too, but how many they sign will also come down to the league’s growth, and how it progresses from day one.
And more news while we're at it, looks like the Northern Super League's 6th team will be based in Ottawa
— Alexandre Gangué-Ruzic (@AlexGangueRuzic) May 28, 2024
We now know the league's inaugural field of 6 teams:
Vancouver Whitecaps✅
Calgary Foothills✅
AFC Toronto✅
Halifax✅
Montréal✅
Ottawa✅
And more to come, certainly https://t.co/vsBvpojCaN
From there, they’ll hope to attract a strong crop of international players with the salary cap, helping push the level of the league from the start, which would be beneficial for the many young players who will get the chance to start their professional journeys in the league.
And that’s the big goal. Certainly, this league is huge for the 100s of Canadian professional players who are plying their trades across the globe, as they can now envision playing professionally in their backyard, but the NSL is even more important for the next generation.
As many current players will point to, a lot of talented players who came up through the youth ranks weren’t able to pursue their professional dreams for a multitude of factors, which saw them forced to quit earlier than they were hoping to.
Now, it’s hoped that the NSL can provide opportunities for the next generation of players to cut their teeth professionally closer to home, giving them the opportunities to launch their careers, instead of quitting or heading out abroad to chase their dreams.
That will provide a big boost to Canada’s player pool long-term, for both the youth and senior teams, which is the big reason behind Matheson’s creation of the league, having seen those realities first-hand when she was with the CanWNT for over a decade.
Because of that, this marks a big day for the women’s game in Canada, one that’ll hopefully allow Canada to catch up and make up for years of lost time, having stood idle for some crucial years of growth globally. Now, this league can help them do that and will look to prove that going forward, leading into that launch next spring, which now marks an important date for the game in Canada.
