PREVIEW – The 2025 Northern Super League/Super Ligue du Nord (NSL/SLN) season will officially kick off on April 16 when the Vancouver Rise FC face the Calgary Wild FC at BC Place. This will be the first-ever first-tier pro women’s soccer league in Canada.
Big Headlines with the 2025 Northern Super League Season
Broadcasting Rights
This is probably the biggest news with the NSL/SLN. Having the right broadcast rights can be the difference between a league being seen as a major league or as a minor league. The fact that the NSL/SLN was able to get rights to TSN/RDS and CBC/Radio-Canada (and also the streaming services TSN+ and CBC Gem) is a huge deal.
Co-founder and former CANWNT player, Diana Matheson, had this to say about growing the game long-term in Canada (Source: SportsCal):
“Ensuring our matches are available to Canadians is key to the long-term growth and viability of professional women’s soccer,” Matheson said. “Our players have been behind the scenes for too long. Having Bell Media and CBC/Radio-Canada put a national spotlight on our Canadian professional players is a huge win for fans and creates a lasting impact on women’s sport in this country.”
There will be two games to watch out for. The first game will take place on April 16, when the Vancouver Rise FC host the Calgary Wild FC at BC Place at 10:00pm ET. Then, on April 19, AFC Toronto will host the Montreal Roses FC/Roses de Montréal FC on April 19 at BMO Field at 4:00pm ET.
Both games will be shown live on CBC Gem and TSN in Canada and also ESPN+ in the U.S. The game between Toronto and Montreal will also be televised live on the French-Canadian channel, RDS.
Noteworthy Signings
The first-ever signing will always be significant and Jade Kovacevic’s name with the NSL/SLN will forever be linked. Although there were bigger names announced, Kovacevic has been playing in Ontario for most of her life. She in fact also played for the Toronto Lady Lynx from 2012-14, which was Toronto’s previous pro women’s soccer team that folded in 2015.
A retired CANWNT goalkeeper, Erin McLeod, played a huge role in Canada winning bronze in the 2012 FIFA Women’s World Cup. She will be playing as captain and goalkeeper of the Halifax Tides FC. There is also well-known and retired CANWNT midfielder, Desiree Scott, who will play for the Ottawa Rapid FC/CF Rapide Ottawa.
READ MORE: AFC Toronto and CANWNT Player Profile: Emma Regan
As for the current CANWNT/CANXNT players, there is AFC Toronto defender/midfielder, Emma Regan, who was the only NSL/SLN player to make both the February and April rosters for the national team.
READ MORE: Samantha Chang: CANWNT and Vancouver Rise FC Midfielder
The rest of the CANWNT/CANXNT players come from the Vancouver Rise FC. The most notable one are midfielder, Quinn. There are also other players making the roster for the national team from the Vancouver team this year. This includes midfielder, Samantha Chang and forward, Holly Ward.
As for what this league means for the players in Canada, this is what Regan said about it (Source: Signa Butler of CBC News):
Regan is saying what many Canadians currently playing in the NSL/SLN are saying. As Regan said, it has “Been a long time coming” and for the league to sign top-notch players is noteworthy.
The Rise of Pro Women’s Sports in Canada
The NSL/SLN presents a movement of professional/major women’s sports coming to Canada. Not only will Calgary, Halifax, and Vancouver get their pro women’s soccer teams to support, but Ottawa and Montreal will be doubling their number of pro women’s sports franchises to two teams with their PWHL teams.
Toronto, being the financial centre, and the biggest city in Canada by population, currently has the greatest number of professional/major sports teams in the Greater Toronto Area.
Along with AFC Toronto and the PWHL’s Toronto Sceptres, their WNBA team, the Toronto Tempo, will start playing at Coca-Cola Coliseum next year. In addition, the Canada Super60 cricket league, which will have a women’s league of two teams, will kick off and end its season this July in Brampton, Ontario.
READ MORE: Desiree Scott: CANWNT Player Profile of “The Destroyer”
This is what Scott of the Rapid said about the rise of women’s sports in Canada to Kate McKenna of TSN:
Just for context, there are three PWHL/LPHF teams situated in Laval (representing Montreal), Ottawa, and Toronto. The home game Scott is referring to is the Ottawa Charge, which plays their games in Lansdowne Park at TD Place Arena. All three Canadian PWHL/LPHF teams are top three this year in attendance (the league also has three American teams).
The relationship between the PWHL/LPHF and the NSL/SLN is also one like no other. The PWHL/LPHF have found a way to promote the NSL/SLN teams at every possible opportunity. This includes markets that do not have PWHL/LPHF teams such as Vancouver and Calgary.
Toronto and Vancouver Join Elite Company
With the addition of the NSL/SLN team, the Greater Toronto Area and Metro Vancouver will have three top-tier professional soccer teams (combining men and women with their CPL and MLS teams). Both Toronto and Vancouver are one of only a handful of cities in Canada and the U.S. to have three or more professional soccer teams.
This list includes New York City/New Jersey, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C. Washington D.C., is the only city to have more top-tier pro women’s soccer teams than men’s while New York City/New Jersey region is the only place in Canada and the U.S. to have four professional top-tier soccer teams.
Season Is Just Around The Corner
The NSL/SLN has not even kicked off and they are making waves around the soccer world. For example, Matheson said this about why she was in Madrid two months ago (Source: Alexandra Ibaceta of The Rise of Women’s Football):
This statement indicates that the NSL/SLN are making waves around the world without playing a single game yet. They have the public attention of important people in worldwide soccer and are seen as one of 16 leagues that is leading the charge to make the game more popular around the world.
It also shows that the NSL/SLN are paying their players fairly. As noted in The Canadian Press article, the “players in the new Northern Super League will earn at least $50,000.”
READ MORE: The Northern Super League is Born
This type of salary is comparable with the NWSL’s salary, even when considering the exchange rate of the Canadian and the American dollar. This fact indicates that the NSL/SLN wants to be a big-time league across Canada. They are also off to a good start as YYC Soccer on BlueSky indicated that Lydia Bedford of the Calgary Wild FC, said that over 10,000 seats have already been sold at BC Place.
Women’s National Team Celebration Tour
19 October 2021 – Ottawa, ON, CAN
Photo Credit: Canada Soccer Flickr Account by Jordyn Huitema
