PLAYER PROFILE – Samantha Chang, a CANWNT and Vancouver Rise FC midfielder, is one of only two Northern Super League players to make the CANWNT Pinatar Cup roster for February. She is a 5 ft 5 in player who was born to a South Korean father and a Canadian mother in Mississauga, Ontario. Chang was born on July 13, 2000.
Samantha Chang: The Promising Young Midfielder from Ontario
Samantha Chang Childhood
Samantha Chang grew up in Mississauga, Ontario. She played a variety of sports growing up including soccer, basketball, volleyball, and cross-country.
Chang was three years old when she played for the Mississauga SC and then and then also played for Brams United of Brampton. Her favourite role models/teams growing up are Christine Sinclair, Lionel Messi, and FC Barcelona. She was even able to see her national team play in Montreal in the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
She is also a player who regularly made the Canada youth team with the Canada U15, Canada U17, and the Canada U20 teams.
Source: Canada Soccer
As a midfielder, she played for Unionville Milliken SC. In total, she played 20 games and scored seven goals in total. Chang accomplished a lot with Unionville Milliken SC’s Facebook Page, like being their captain in 2017 and winning the League1 Ontario Best Young Player of the Year award.
Chang also talked about where she got this competitive spirit, which came from being the middle child of three with her two brothers (Source: Brad Muller of the Columbia Metropolitan Airport):
“I think it stems from me having two brothers and I’m the middle child. We were always playing games and playing sports. My brothers are the most competitive people ever. That’s where it started from. Growing up, I hated to lose, and I loved to win. Every time I go out there, I want to compete,” Chang said. “When that comes, it means I’m working really hard and I’m doing everything I can for the team to succeed.”
This mentality has proven to get results, as she excelled as a youth player. She made the 2016 CONCACAF Women’s U-17 Championship, 2016 FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup and the 2020 CONCACAF Women’s U-20 Championship.
Samantha Chang College Career: South Carolina Gamecocks (2018-22)
Although Chang was with the South Carolina Gamecocks for these years, she was injured in 2018. In 2019, she began playing with her college team against NC State and dished out two assists in a 2-1 win for the Gamecocks. She also had the game-winning assist against Kentucky.
In the 2020-21 season, Chang played in 11 games, where she got two National Player of the Week honours. She also scored the game-winning goal against third-seeded Arkansas.
Then in her last two years with the Gamecocks, Chang took a bigger role within the team itself. This included having the third-most minutes of any non-goalie. She was also tied for third in terms of assists with the team and also led the team with two game-winning goals. Both game-winning goals came in the NCAA Tournament (against both Hofstra and Penn State) and her game-winning assist happened against Georgia.
Her importance on the team continued with her last year with South Carolina in 2022. Chang appeared in all 24 matches and had the fourth-most minutes of any player on the team.
Chang, as a midfielder, stepped up for the team on the road, scoring two goals against UConn and Vermont. She also stepped up in the NCAA tournament Round of 32 stage against Harvard. In that game, she assisted in one of the goals in what was a 3-2 win over Harvard.
Chang also excelled academically with her college making the Academic Honour Roll, in her last two years there. She studied social work as a bachelor’s degree.
She also made the SEC All-Freshman team (2019 as well as other awards. This included making the TopDrawerSoccer.com Team of the Week, TopDrawerSoccer.com National Player of the Week, SEC Offensive Player of the Week (Week 5), and College Soccer News Team of the Week (Week 5).
Source: South Carolina Gamecocks
Chang also made an impression on her Gamecocks head coach, Shelly Smith, who said this about her (Source: Brad Muller of the South Carolina Gamecocks):
“It’s a great example of someone that has improved her game even after going through what she did,” said Smith. “A lot of it had to do with her determination. She had the work ethic to get past that for sure, and she has natural athleticism. She came back stronger than ever from that.”
Professional Career
Chang started her career with the Torrense of the Campeonato Nacional de Futebol Feminino in Portugal. There she scored one goal in nine appearances in 2023. She would make a bigger impact on her next club team based in Denmark with HB Køge Women of the Elitedivisionen (Danish Women’s League).
HB Køge Women (2023-24)
Current HB Køge Women head coach, Kim Daugaard, was impressed by Chang, as he said this about Chang when signing her (Source: Anders Kamper of SjaellandskeNyheder from the HB Køge’s Women’s Website):
“In Samantha we get a technically skilled and offensive-minded midfielder, who has to get in and strengthen our creative game and hopefully contribute with some goals and assists,” Daugaard said. “He has the level to strengthen us and we are just looking forward to getting to know her our setup and systems so that she can come in and contribute to the team.”
With HB Køge Women, Chang made 35 appearances and scored three goals within that period. This included scoring the game-winning goal in Daugaard’s first-ever win as head coach of the HB Køge Women’s Club.
Chang enjoyed playing in Denmark as she stated when signing with the Vancouver Rise FC (Source: Samantha Chang’s Instagram Account):
“Denmark will always hold such a special place in my heart and I will miss the people the most.”
It was the first professional club soccer team where Chang had plenty of games at the professional level. She will look to take that experience she learned and take it to the Vancouver Rise FC.
Vancouver Rise FC (2025-Present)
The Vancouver Rise FC obviously saw a lot in Chang as they made this statement about her when she got signed with the Rise FC (Vancouver Rise FC Instagram Account):
This is what Chang said about playing in Vancouver (Vancouver Rise FC Instagram Account):
“I am so excited to be a part of history,” Chang said. “Always wanted to live in Vancouver and experience what the city has to offer.”
With being “a part of history,” Chang was talking about the first-ever pro women’s soccer league in the country with the Northern Super League. 2025 will mark the first time Canada had a first-tier professional women’s soccer league in the country.
READ MORE: FIFA World Cup 26 Vancouver – Important Soccer City in Canada
Vancouver is also an interesting choice for Chang, as she is from the Greater Toronto Area. However, Vancouver is a place that many Canadians want to visit at least once. This is especially true with some of the events it has hosted in past and will host in the future with the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup including the final and the 2010 Winter Olympics as well as being one of only two co-host cities in Canada for the 2026 FIFA World Cup rights.
READ MORE: FIFA World Cup 26 Toronto – Significance to the City of Toronto
Samantha Chang: The CANWNT Midfielder (2021 – Present)
Chang played her first senior national game in 2021 with the 2021 SheBelieves Cup competition against Argentina. She however did not play another game until she made the CANWNT Pinatar Cup roster this month. This is what Chang said about representing her country once again in her game against China on Wednesday (Source: Samantha Chang’s Instagram Account):
“Representing Canada will always be the biggest honour.”
READ MORE: AFC Toronto and CANWNT Player Profile: Emma Regan
Chang was also one of only two NSL/SLN players to be named on the CANWNT’s Pinatar Cup roster. The other NSL/SLN player that made the roster was AFC Toronto’s defender and midfielder, Emma Regan.
Games Coming Up For The CANWNT
READ MORE: CANWNT Pinatar Cup Roster Revealed: Two NSL Players
Fans might be able to see Chang play again in the last Pinatar Cup game on Tuesday against Chinese Taipei. That game will take place at 1:00PM ET (7:00pm local time) and is the last game of the 2025 Pinatar Cup competition. The other game that day is at 7:00AM ET (1:00pm local time), and it will be between China and Mexico. Both games will be at Pinatar Arena in San Pedro del Pinatar, Spain.
The game between Canada and Spain will be shown live on OneSoccer, FuboTV, and Telus.
Women’s training session
6 February 2020 – Championsgate, FL, USA
Photo Credit: Canada Soccer Flickr Account
