It’s the steely resolve Christine Sinclair displays every time she steps onto the pitch that has made her stand out from the others.
To be sure, Sinclair is a top-quality footballer. You don’t score 190 goals in 327 games and become international soccer’s all-time top scorer for both women and men without a fair amount of technical skill. But more than the goals, it’ll be Sinclair’s determination, and her sheer will to win and compete that the Canadian women’s team will miss more than anything else.
On Friday, Canada’s iconic captain revealed her plans to retire from the national team at the end of the year, with a pair of as-of-yet-unannounced home games in B.C. next month serving as her international swan song. Sinclair intends to play one more season for her pro club, the Portland Thorns of the NWSL, which means she’s passing up on the opportunity to compete at next summer’s Paris Olympics.
That will come as a great disappointment to her legions of fans who have hung on her every touch of the ball for the past 23 years. But at age 40, the veteran forward has more than earned the right to go out on her terms after the way she spilled her guts for the women’s team.
Of course, women’s and men’s soccer are vastly different, so you can’t compare the two. That being said, the fact remains that Sinclair, a native of Burnaby, B.C. ranks as the greatest international scorer in the one sport that is played and watched by more people around the world than any other.
Not a Brazilian. Not an Italian. Not an Argentinian. Not a Spaniard. Not a German. A Canadian.
“I’m a proud Canadian, and I’m proud that a Canadian is on top of the list, I’m not going to lie. … I’ve been fortunate that my career has mirrored the growth of the national team and the opportunities that are available now. I’ve been very, very fortunate, but to have a Canadian on top of the list, from a so-called hockey country, it’s pretty cool,” Sinclair said in 2020 when she broke the international goal-scoring record.
The tributes from around the world have come flooding in for Sinclair since she announced her plans to retire, which just goes to show you how her influence on the sport extended far beyond Canada’s borders. It’s also more than apropos because in many ways she put Canada on the soccer map.
“She’s the GOAT. Always will be. I can’t see another [player who is] going to surpass her,” said former Canadian women’s coach John Herdman.
Sinclair’s international retirement marks the end of a truly remarkable era for Canadian soccer. Since making her debut as a 16-year-old at the 2000 Algarve Cup, she has traipsed across the globe to represent her country with pride, and without reservation or hesitation. No matter the circumstances, no matter how far the distance, no matter the inconvenience to her pro career, no matter how meagre the opponent. No matter what, she was there, scoring in 22 different nations around the world against 43 opponents. She was always there.
She was there at the 2011 FIFA World Cup in Germany where she suffered a broken nose in Canada’s opening contest against the hosts, stayed in the game against the wishes of the team’s medical staff, scored a fantastic free kick goal in the 82nd minute, and then battled through the pain to play in two more group stage matches.
She was there at Manchester’s Old Trafford, one of the hallowed cathedrals of world soccer, in the semifinals of competition at the 2012 London Games when she put her team on her back and scored a memorable hat trick in a heartbreaking extra-time loss to the United States.
She was there for the opening match of the 2015 World Cup held in Canada when she kept her nerve and scored from the penalty spot deep into injury time to lift Canada to a 1-0 win over China before a crowd of over 53,000 fans.
She was there for six FIFA World Cups, scoring in five of them (a record she shares with Brazil’s Marta and Cristiano Ronaldo) and helping Canada reach the semifinals in 2003. She was there for four Olympics, playing a seminal role in the Canadians collecting back-to-back bronze medals and a gold in Tokyo in 2021.
She was there at the 2002 FIFA U-19 Women’s World Championship, an event that drew packed crowds to Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium and huge TV audiences for Sportsnet for Canada’s games. Fans from coast-to-coast followed along as Sinclair scored a tournament-high 11 goals before coming up short in a 1-0 loss to the U.S. in the final. It was at that tournament where Canadians first became aware of Sinclair, and where she inspired the next generation of girls across the country to take up soccer, including a host of players who eventually became her teammates.
She was also there on Parliament Hill earlier this year, boldly and bravely appearing before the Heritage Committee where she ruthlessly scolded Canada Soccer for fostering a “culture of secrecy and obstruction” in its labour negotiations with the women’s team over the years.
“As the popularity, interest and growth of the women’s game has swept the globe, our most painstaking battle has been with our own federation and trying to obtain fair and equitable treatment in the way we are supported and the way we are paid,” Sinclair testified before the MPs.
Sinclair cuts a reserved figure off the field and has shunned the spotlight over the course of her career, so it could not have been easy for her to speak out the way she did. But that’s what captains do, regardless of whether or not they’re on the pitch.
“I was privileged and honoured to be part of that [process] to see her rise into a true leader. You know, I always knew she was a great footballer, but I know in the time we spent together, she [was] starting to find her voice and that brought other people with her in ways she’d never done before. So, I think the contribution she’s had on the women’s game in this country, the amount of young women that have grown up with her as the idol watching what she did on the football field, but also watching what she did at the Heritage Committee,” Herdman said.
“You know, I thought for me that was very un-Christine-like and a very brave moment to show the type of leader she’s become. I’m just proud of her.”
Chelsea midfielder Jessie Fleming will more than likely succeed Sinclair as captain of the women’s team and has previously worn the captain’s armband. In many ways, she’s cut from the same cloth as Sinclair: a humble, singularly focused, and determined player who does her talking on the pitch.
But there will only ever be one Christine Sinclair. She’ll always be known as Canada’s captain, no matter what she does or where she goes. This will always be her team. Always.