Northern Super League

The Northern Super League (NSL; french: Super Ligue du Nord—SLN) is a planned Division I professional women's soccer league in Canada. The league is owned and operated by Project 8 Sports, Inc., an entity co-founded by former Canada women's national soccer team player Diana Matheson.

The league is scheduled to begin play in April 2025 and will consist of six teams: Halifax Tides FC, Montreal Roses FC, AFC Toronto, Calgary Wild FC, Ottawa Rapid FC, and Vancouver Rise FC.

History

Upon her retirement from professional soccer in July 2021, Matheson began advocating for both a national domestic women's league and National Women's Soccer League team in Canada. Her early plans specified a six-month professional league with player leadership, and cited her experience with the Ottawa Fury and Vancouver Whitecaps of the defunct USL W-League as examples of what Canada lacked in player development opportunities. Matheson entered Queen's University at Kingston to pursue a Master of Business Administration degree in August 2021, and enrolled in the UEFA Executive Master for International Players program toward sports administration.

In December 2021, Matheson presented a plan for women's soccer in Canada to the Canadian Soccer Association, but discussions did not progress. While attending Queen's, Matheson co-founded Project 8 Sports, Inc., in June 2022 with master's classmate Thomas Gilbert and began planning a professional domestic women's soccer league. Matheson formally announced the league – known provisionally as Project 8 – on December 5, 2022, on '' The National'' alongside former national-team teammate Christine Sinclair, who advised the group. The announcement included the league's first two teams in the Whitecaps and Calgary Foothills WFC, and first two sponsors in CIBC and Air Canada. She also announced talks with Toronto FC owners Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) and CF Montreal, both of Major League Soccer, and a target of May 2024 for sanctioning from Canada Soccer. Matheson named Dome Productions as the league's initial broadcast production partner.

In January 2023, Matheson noted that talks had also included independent and foreign ownership groups, and announced franchise fees of $1 million with an expectation of owners investing $10 million total over the first five seasons, with entry including equity in the league itself. She also detailed limits on foreign players to seven per team, and suggested that the new league would not deal with Canada Soccer Business, the entity that owns broadcast rights to the Canadian Premier League men's soccer competition.

On April 26, 2023, Project 8 announced the league's third team, AFC Toronto City, with an independent ownership group composed of people on the board of North Toronto Soccer Club (NTSC) competing in League1 Ontario, though the Project 8 team would not be formally affiliated with the NTSC organization. The initial announcement did not include participation from Toronto FC or MLSE. In May, Project 8 was recognized as a "league in membership" by the Canadian Soccer Association.

On May 28, 2024, the official logo and name for the league were revealed as the Northern Super League, along with the announcement that teams from both Montreal and Ottawa would also join the league for the 2025 inaugural season. On May 30, the name and logo of Calgary Wild FC was unveiled. On June 13, the name and logo of Halifax Tides FC was announced. On August 15, the name and logo of Ottawa Rapid FC was unveiled. On August 26, the name and logo of Vancouver Rise FC was unveiled. On October 8, the name and logo of Montreal Roses FC was unveiled.

On June 11, the NSL confirmed a multi-year partnership with CBC and TSN, which would both hold broadcast rights for all of the league matches. On July 8, former CFL and Woodbine Entertainment Group executive Christina Litz was announced as the league's president with Matheson moving into the role of chief growth officer.

Teams

On April 4, 2024, the league confirmed that six clubs had submitted applications to the CSA to get professional status.

Location map

See also

* Prominent women's sports leagues in the United States and Canada
* List of professional sports teams in the United States and Canada
* Women's soccer in Canada
* Women's professional sports

References

External links

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Women's soccer leagues in Canada
Professional sports leagues in Canada
Sports leagues established in 2022
Top level women's association football leagues in North America
Proposed association football leagues
2022 establishments in Canada
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