A veteran of four World Cups as a player, Diana Matheson knows the platform that the women's soccer showcase presents.
Matheson hopes attention on the 2023 tournament will help springboard the Canadian women's professional league her Project 8 group is putting together, with a planned kickoff for 2025.
"For us, it's a big piece just in terms of awareness. And awareness of women's soccer and the growth in women's professional soccer and what we're doing," Matheson said of the 32-country tournament, which runs July 20 to Aug. 20 across nine host cities in Australia and New Zealand.
"So we'll definitely try and be visible during the Women's World Cup while that extra attention and eyeballs are on it … because every time we've been able to make a large announcement, we've got really quality inbound leads coming our way. The Women's World Cup is another platform where more eyes will be on women's soccer and that's always good for us."
In April, AFC Toronto City became the new league's third founding franchise, joining the Vancouver Whitecaps and Calgary Foothills. Matheson's plan is to launch a league in 2025 with eight teams split across two conferences
Corporate partners already on board are Air Canada, Canadian Tire, CIBC and DoorDash Canada.
Project 8 has already received official league recognition from Canada Soccer.
You need only to look to the U.S. to see the importance of a domestic pro league. Twenty-two of the 23 players on the American World Cup roster play domestically in the National Women’s Soccer League with Lindsey Horan, who is with French champion Olympique Lyonnais, the lone exception.
"I think that speaks to the growth of the NWSL, over the last 18 months to two years specifically," said Matheson, who played for four different NWSL clubs during her career.
Matheson points to the players' collective bargaining agreement that improved standards in the U.S. league, as well as the entry of women-led franchises like Los Angeles-based Angel City FC.
Nine of the 12 NWSL clubs are represented on the American roster.
In contrast, 13 of the 23 Canadians at the World Cup play their club football in Europe, with nine of those in England. Captain Christine Sinclair, who captains the Portland Thorns, is one of eight NWSL players. The other two are U.S. college players.
"It's been the case for however many World Cups now, when you go down the player list and see what club they play for, it's really only been Canada where the bulk of their players aren't playing at home," said Matheson. "Hopefully this is the last World Cup we see that."
"That's absolutely our goal," she added. "I think we can provide a place for a good piece of the national team and also many other Canadians who are either playing abroad or aren't yet playing pro … The more exciting thing for me is there's going to be names hopefully on that World Cup roster next time that we don't even know yet and that are coming up through the ranks in Canada and we get to know first through his pro league and then we get to watch them at the next Women's World Cup."
World Cups have provided different memories for Matheson.
In 2019, sidelined by injury, she enjoyed a new role as a TV analyst. She remembers 2015, when Canada lost 2-1 to England in the quarterfinals in Vancouver, as a missed opportunity.
"That one, I think, leaves a bitter taste in all our mouths because we knew the opportunity was there to perform and really compete to win a World Cup at home," she said. "And we just didn't hit the level of performance to get there."
The Canadians failed to get out of the group stage after losing all three outings at the 2011 tournament in Germany under Italian coach Carolina Morace. Outscored 7-1 by France, Germany and Nigeria, Canada finished 16th and last.
"That was heartbreak but I think in some ways was the catalyst that led to 2012," Matheson said, referencing the bronze-medal run at the London Olympics under John Herdman. "I think it focused us in a lot more on what we needed to do, especially when John came in."
Matheson says the fourth-place finish in 2003 in the U.S., with Norwegian coach Even Pellerud at the helm, holds a special place in her heart. It was her first World Cup and first year on the Canadian team. After dispatching China 1-0 in the quarterfinals, Canada lost 2-1 to Sweden in the semifinal and 3-1 to the U.S. in third-place game.
"We came fourth, back in the day with Route 1 soccer, direct soccer. The midfielders mostly played defence and tried to win the ball and then get it to the forwards pretty quickly," she said. "But it worked. And we almost squeaked through to a final."
"I have such fond memories of that team," she added. "That was a team like London, like Tokyo (where Canada won Olympic gold in 2021) where you had a really core group of fantastic veterans that set the tone — Charmaine Hooper, Andrea Neil, Silvana Burtini, so many others — and this really young hungry group of kids coming up with Sinc (Christine Sinclair), myself, Erin McLeod."
Canada failed to get out of the group stage in 2007 in China under Pellerud, conceding a 92nd-minute goal in a 2-2 tie with Australia that prevented the Canadians from moving on. Sinclair had scored in the 85th minute to give Canada the lead.
Matheson recently earned her MBA from the Smith School of Business at Queen's University. She has also finished UEFA's Executive Master for International Players (MIP), a 20-month program designed to equip top international players with the tools required to transfer their playing strengths into effective management skills off the pitch.
The franchise fee for the proposed new women's league is $1 million with a need for an estimated $8 million to $10 million in total invested capital over the first five seasons in addition to necessary spending on infrastructure. Owners are buying a piece of the league as well as their own franchise.
Project 8 Sports Inc. was founded by Matheson and Thomas Gilbert.
Matheson's distinguished playing career included the stoppage-time goal that earned Canada a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics. She won 206 caps for Canada (including 193 starts) from 2003 to 2020.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 17, 2023.
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
