EDITORIAL – The W Canadian Championship was officially announced on July 16, 2026. Following in the footsteps of the Canadian Championship (Men), the W Canadian Championship will provide the women’s game with its first-ever women’s open cup competition. It will also be another competition for elite female athletes to try to win a trophy in Canada.
W Canadian Championship: What It Could Be for Canadian Soccer?
What Is It About?
This is an open cup competition that will have six Northern Super League (NSL) teams and two third-tier provincial champions in the competition. The quarterfinals of this inaugural edition will happen this year, while the semi-finals and the finals will take place next year. The quarterfinals will be just one leg played for each of the four matchups.
The Simcoe County Rovers FC (Ontario Premier League, finished first) and the CS Mont-Royal Outremont (LS Pro Féminin, finished second) were the top two teams from the 2025 Women’s Inter-Provincial Championships, so that is probably why they made the competition over the other teams.
The Calgary Blizzard WSC of the Alberta Premier League finished third, and Altitude FC (Canada) of the British Premier League finished fourth. The Prairies Premier League started play in 2026, which was a year later than the 2025 Women’s Inter-Provincial Championships, and which is why they were not part of the 2025 Women’s Inter-Provincial Championships.
An Open Cup Competition
The purpose of these open cups is to have a true national champion where the grassroots/semi-pro teams compete against the professional teams. In this case, it is the six NSL teams and the provincial champions of the Ontario Premier League’s Simcoe County Rovers (FC) and the LS Pro QC with the CS Mont-Royal Outremont.
This was about the U.S. Open Cup (Men’s Competition), but it does relate to the meaning of the W Canadian Championship, as SNP Staff of Sportsnet Pittsburgh said this:
This is what people should expect with the W Canadian Championship. It is a cup where anything can happen, and even the teams in the lower leagues can surprise and potentially shock an NSL team.
Seeing Potential CANWNT and/or NSL Stars at An Early Age
There are many examples of players who made an impression and got some experience from the lower leagues in these competitions, which allowed them to sign contracts with teams playing in bigger and/or more lucrative leagues.
One example to note is Alistair Johnston. He played for Vaughan Azzurri (then League1 Ontario but now the Ontario Premier League) in the 2019 Canadian Championship against the HFX (Halifax) Wanderers FC. The team played well but lost on aggregate thanks to the away-goal rule, with Johnston also being sent off in the second leg because of a red card.
A year after that, though, he got a contract with Nashville SC. He scored his first goal with the club against Inter Miami CF back in 2021. He then went to CF Montréal in 2022, where he helped the team earn the third-best record in MLS.
This would help Johnston make a move to Celtic FC, where he remains to this day. However, there have been some reports that he may go to Everton F.C., which plays in the English Premier League, according to the Daily Record (as mentioned by OneSoccer earlier).
This is the hope with the W Canadian Championship, as Dino Rossi, vice president of the Premier Soccer Leagues Canada, said this:
“The W Canadian Championship gives our clubs and players the opportunity to compete on a national stage while showcasing the quality and ambition that exists throughout Premier Soccer Leagues Canada. Every match is an opportunity to demonstrate the strength of our clubs, inspire the next generation of players, and continue raising the standard of the women’s game across the country.”
It is bound to happen in the W Canadian Championship. When and how it happens is a mystery to us right now, but it will happen, and it will add a beautiful story to the game of soccer in Canada.
What This Competition Means for the Professional Teams?
AFC Toronto head coach, Marko Milanović, talks about what this competition means for the club and the league of the NSL according to the AFC Toronto YouTube Account:
“It gives you an opportunity to showcase yourselves against American, Mexican, and Central American teams,” Milanović said. “We hope we can win it, so we can represent Canada in that tournament.
That is what this tournament represents for the league, as the winner of the W Canadian Championship will play in the Concacaf W Champions League preliminary round. As of right now, it seems that the winner of this competition will be the sole representative team for Canada in the tournament.
READ MORE: 2025 AFC Toronto Season: NSL Supporters’ Shield Champions
AFC Toronto knows all about this as well. As they won the NSL Supporters’ Shield last year, it granted them a berth in the World Sevens Football competition. It is a seven-v-seven competition, which is different than the 11v11 competitions most people watch for in soccer.
This is what the captain of AFC Toronto, Emma Regan, said about the experience, according to AFC Toronto:
“To take this club onto the global stage in our first season together is pretty special,” said Regan. “We’ve built something meaningful this year, on and off the pitch, and being invited to World Sevens is a reflection of that work. We’re hungry for the challenge and proud to represent AFC Toronto and the NSL against some of the top clubs in the world.”
They even made some history in that competition, as they defeated the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) side, the Kansas City Current. NWSL is considered one of the best leagues in the world, so for a team representing a league that had only gone through one full season at the time, it must have been special. This is the type of magic that an NSL team will look to replicate in the Concacaf W Champions Cup, which is a bigger competition with a lot more eyeballs on the competition than the World Sevens Football competition.
READ MORE: Kaylee Hunter: Promising Canadian Teenager for AFC Toronto
Games Coming Up with the W Canadian Championship
The first game of the W Canadian Championship will take place on August 3 at the Wanderers Grounds. This is where the Halifax Tides FC will host the Ottawa Rapid FC. It will be shown live on the NSL YouTube Account and on TSN+ at 2:00 pm ET (3:00 pm AT). The only other NSL matchup will be AFC Toronto vs. Vancouver Rise FC at York Lions Stadium at 1:00 pm ET (10:00 am PT) on October 4. That game will be shown live on TSN in Canada and on ESPN+ in the U.S.
READ MORE: Lauren Rowe: AFC Toronto’s 2026 Leading Goalscorer
Both matches in this competition count towards both the NSL and the W Canadian Championship. The NSL part of the match will only count for the normal 90 minutes, even if it is a draw. If it is a draw after normal time has ended, there will be extra time and also potentially penalties, but this would only count to the W Canadian Championship, not the NSL.
This is while the Calgary Wild FC hosts the LS Pro Féminin’s CS Mont-Royal Outremont on August 5, while the Montréal Roses FC will host the Women’s Ontario Premier League’s Simcoe County Rovers FC on August 12.
Photo Credit: Lucas Kschischang (LBK) on July 18, 2026.
