Christine Sinclair's impact on Canadian soccer — on and off the pitch — will be felt forever

Christine Sinclair changed the landscape of Canadian soccer forever.

Sinclair, who announced her retirement on Friday, is one of Canada’s greatest athletes of all time, both for her superlative play and her advocacy off the pitch. Her career is also a window to the evolution of women’s soccer in this country.

Sinclair was a prodigy in the Burnaby, B.C., youth circuit before making her senior national team debut at the 2000 Algarve Cup, where she scored three goals. Charmaine Hooper was the gold standard prior to Sinclair, a veteran of three World Cups with 71 goals in 129 international caps, but it became apparent that Hooper’s successor emerged in the waiting — a teenager who was tremendously adept at timing her runs to beat offside traps.

A year prior to Sinclair’s debut, Canada finished fourth in the 1999 World Cup, a landmark event for women’s soccer best remembered for U.S. defender Brandi Chastain’s jubilant celebration after defeating China in a shootout.

Sinclair truly ascended to national prominence during her dominant stint in the NCAA as a member of the University of Portland Pilots, a phenomenal four-year run where she won national titles in 2002 and 2005, finishing with an absurd 110 goals in 92 games. Two decades ago, the NCAA was one of the few pathways to success for women’s players in the absence of genuine competition and Sinclair proved dominant at every level, while advocating for the creation of a truly sustainable pro league.

At the age of 20, Sinclair operated not only as a bridge between the program’s past and bright future but a prolific striker unfazed by the magnitude of the tournament, recording three goals, including Canada’s lone tally in the third-place game against the United States.

Sinclair and the previous iterations of the Canadian national team didn’t always see eye-to-eye. Canada national team head coach Even Pellerud held Hooper off the roster for the 2006 Gold Cup, alleging that she had been punished for not committing to the national team soon enough. After Pellerud and Hooper went to arbitration, Sinclair, now the national team captain, coldly dismissed Hooper, stating that she let her teammates down. It is perhaps the lone misstep of an otherwise spotless career.

We often characterize athletes as fearless due to their toughness displayed in the field of competition, but Sinclair called out the hypocrisy of Canada Soccer several times. Prior to the 2011 World Cup, Sinclair led her teammates in a boycott of international games due to disputes over pay equality with the governing body, a prevailing theme of her career.

"In Canada we assume that we will be fine," Sinclair wrote in her 2022 memoir, Playing the Long Game. "We assume that because we've been good at this, we will carry on being good. My fear is that we will soon be surpassed by countries that support their youth programs, support their national women's teams and also support professional women's leagues."

Sinclair won fervently at all levels of her career, so the rare missteps perhaps stick out like a sore thumb. Playing through injury during the 2011 World Cup, Canada was routed 4-0 by France and for a brief moment, it appeared the program was sliding into disrepair. And yet, Sinclair fought back ferociously during the 2012 Summer Olympics, leading to a semifinal against the rival Americans — a game that is easily amongst the greatest contests in soccer history.

Submitting her magnum opus, Sinclair registered a hat trick, but Alex Morgan scored in the dying seconds of extra time, as the United States won 4-3. Sinclair was crushed, but she won the Golden Boot with six goals, was named Canada’s flag-bearer at the closing ceremonies and was the winner of the Lou Marsh Trophy, an annual award granted to Canada’s best athlete. She did everything she could to put soccer on the map and had she retired then, she would’ve been Canada’s all-time soccer great. Sinclair played another decade and inspired two generations of players after her, fervently building the culture of women’s soccer in Canada.

In the latter stages of her career, Sinclair’s teammates, undoubtedly inspired by her legendary career, picked her up when she needed them. Canada finally overcame their rival United States in the semifinals of the 2021 Olympics, where Sinclair finally exhaled and got some much-needed revenge. Sinclair drew a penalty in the gold-medal game against Sweden and though she was substituted, it’s clear that her unmatched leadership and legacy played an immense role as Canada finally reached the summit of women’s soccer.

FIFA recognized Sinclair’s singular greatness by granting her the FIFA Special Award for an Outstanding Career Achievement in 2021 for becoming the all-time international goals leader. It does seem strange and somewhat ahistorical that Sinclair was never named FIFA World Player of the Year, perhaps speaking more to Megan Rapinoe’s team accomplishments, Marta and Alexia Putellas’s singular year-over-year accomplishments rather than any real slight towards the Canadian icon. In any event, her impact on women’s soccer has long been cemented.

Sinclair received Canada’s highest civilian honour in 2017, being inducted as a member of the Order of Canada. Prior to Sinclair, Canadian women’s soccer rarely had a seat at the proverbial table. Canada Soccer is crumbling under the demands for wage equality by both national teams, with the men’s team showing solidarity with the women’s program. And let’s call it what it is: although the men’s national program made it back to the World Cup last fall, the women’s program has been a source of pride for two decades, synonymous with Sinclair’s reign.

Every iteration of the women’s national team going forward will be imbued with Sinclair’s impact, both for her material accomplishments on the field as a prolific striker and occasional deep-lying playmaker, and for her tireless advocacy towards a better tomorrow for the next Christine Sinclair in the making.