Team of the Year honours for Canada Soccer’s Women’s National Team

Canada Soccer’s Women’s National Team have been honoured as the Canadian Team of the Year by both Postmedia and The Canadian Press in their respective annual polls.

It was a historic year for Canada Soccer’s Women’s National Team who won a Gold Medal at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. On the year, Canada posted seven wins, seven draws and three losses along with a Women’s National Team record 12-match unbeaten streak from February through November in international competition.

This marks the third time that Canada Soccer’s Women’s National Team have been honoured the Postmedia Canadian Team of the Year (2012, 2016, 2021) and the second time that they have been honoured The Canadian Press Team of the Year (2012 and 2021).

Canada Soccer’s success story at the past three Olympic Games is a result of the federation’s continued investment in women’s soccer, highlighted this year with the program’s best-ever result at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Canada are just the third nation in the world to win three Olympic medals in women’s soccer (after USA and Germany) and one of only two nations in the world to win an Olympic medal in each of the last three Olympic Games (Brazil in men’s soccer and Canada in women’s soccer).

Achieving a best-ever result, or “changing the colour of the medal,” has been a Canada Soccer strategic initiative as outlined in the Canada Soccer Nation: 2019-2021 Strategic Plan. That plan set the organisation forward under the DEVELOP, GOVERN, GROW directive, featuring a series of programs and initiatives to move the game forward including alignment across its National Teams Program structure, investment in a National Soccer Registry, the launch of Canada Soccer’s National Youth Club Licensing Program, as well as the launch of the Canada Soccer Grassroots Coach Education Program online learning platform.

OLYMPIC MEDAL WINNERS & CONCACAF CHAMPIONS

Canada are two-time Olympic bronze medal winners (2012 and 2016) and two-time Concacaf champions (1998 and 2010). In all, Canada have participated in seven consecutive editions of the FIFA Women’s World Cup™ (1995 to 2019) and four consecutive editions of the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament (2008 to 2021). At Rio 2016, Canada Soccer’s Women’s National Team were the first Canadian Olympic team to win back-to-back medals at a summer Olympic Games in more than a century.

Canada Soccer’s Women’s National Youth Teams, meanwhile, have won four Concacaf youth titles: the 2004 and 2008 Concacaf Women’s Under-20 Championship, the 2010 Concacaf Women’s Under-17 Championship, and the 2014 Concacaf Girls’ Under-15 Championship. Canada have qualified for seven editions of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup (including a silver medal at Canada 2002) and all six editions of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup (including a fourth-place finish at Uruguay 2018).