Last night, Christine Sinclair, international football’s all-time leading scorer, played her final minutes on the world stage. With more than 330 appearances for Canada, the 40-year-old is second in the list of most capped female players, behind American Kristine Lilly. She competed in six different World Cups, winning two bronze Olympic medals and a heroic gold at the most recent edition in Tokyo. The Canadian has had an unparalleled international career and has pledged to give another year of club football with her beloved Portland Thorns in the National Women’s Super League (NWSL) for a twelfth season.
Sinclair single-handedly put Canadian soccer on the map and her name is synonymous with the nation. The legacy she leaves behind is enormous and has influenced every aspect of the sport in North America. Current players praise her leadership and humility, the younger generation calls her a role model, head coaches say they become her students and her trophy case is filled with silverware from every professional year she has played.
Sinclair was named Canadian Player of the Year fourteen times and announced her international retirement in mid-October of this year via a letter to her younger self posted on social media. “This, scoring goals, will become the signature for the rest of your playing career,” Sinclair wrote in the first part of the letter. It started during the 2000 Algarve Cup against Norway, her first ever goal for the national team just eight minutes into the match. When she was just 16 years old, she finished her first camp as the tournament’s second top scorer. That got everyone’s attention. Finding the net for the next 23 years would be her bread and butter.
Before Sinclair fully committed to the senior team, he tore up every youth competition in sight. She was named tournament MVP and won the Golden Ball and Golden Boot after scoring ten breathtaking goals at the 2002 Under-19 Women’s World Cup at home, helping Canada to second place, their best ever finish. Her 190 international goals are a number no other player, male or female, has even come close to. In second place is retired USWNT captain Abby Wambach, with Cristiano Ronaldo the closest active player at 128. It’s hard to see anyone taking this title away from the legendary Canadian.
It’s not just about the number of goals Sinclair scored, but the devastating way in which many of them were scored. It was the scoring drive for a bronze medal and a gold boot at the 2012 Olympic Games that put her name in the history books. That great goal against Costa Rica still provides highlights. A wonderful free kick Against Germany in the 2011 World Cup, the Canadians were glued to the TV. And of course, the equalizer facing the Netherlands saw her equal the record of scoring in five consecutive World Cups.
The Burnaby-born player is an all-rounder. Equipped with a right foot that seemed to put every ball he touched into the net, he was accompanied by a deadly left foot that other players could only dream of. Sinclair was a nightmare to defend against. Powerful headers were part of the deadly toolbox, as were the crisp passes that made Canadian football flourish. Everyone wanted to play with Sinclair as she scored and assisted in such a clinical manner during her peak years.
Although they never played in Europe, the Canuck shared the court with several legends. In 2010 she won a championship with FC Gold Pride (now defunct) alongside Brazilian pioneer Marta. Despite being rivals on the international stage, 2019 Fifa Best Player of the Year Megan Rapinoe cherished the NCAA title with Sinclair in 2005 for the University of Portland. Rapinoe, like so many others, saw Sinclair’s magic and when asked by Fox Soccer X, formerly known as Twitter, who was the best player who never won the Ballon d’Or, the American forward answered: Christine Sinclair.
With no professional league in Canada and having already spent a few years in Portland, Sinclair had fallen in love with the city and its passion and sporting history. “I wanted to play for Portland, [I said] I’m not going anywhere else,” Sinclair recalled of her assignment process for the inaugural NWSL season. It was a match made in Heaven from the very first kick and they won the championship with “Sincy” named in the NWSL Second XI.
After ten years of finesse with the Thorns, the club captain is more than loved at Providence Park. Whether she comes off the bench or onto the field with ten players behind her, she is rewarded with a standing ovation, roars of approval and sustained clapping. Her teammates are often among those clapping. Tobin Heath, a two-time World Cup winner for seven years with USWNT and Portland teammates, said: “They [Sinclair] which makes the game seem so simple”.
Off the field, a quiet personality who only opened up to those very close to her, Sinclair’s voice changed the game for decades to come. The Captain has consistently fought for equality, higher wages, better standards and opportunities for young people. “You will learn that members of the Canadian women’s national team played for $10 a day,” Sinclair wrote in the letter to her younger self. The internal negotiations behind the scenes may not be known to most, but Sinclairs’ hard fight to patch up the cracks in the program is the reason why Canadian soccer exists at the level it is today and continues to thrive. “Creating equality is what you will be most proud of,” Sinclair added in the letter, a proud achievement achieved in 2023.
Her last World Cup did not end the way it was intended. A devastating 4–0 defeat in the final match of the group stage against co-hosts Australia was the last they played. Sinclair is not a fan of media obligations and said a few words that sent shivers through the media zone. “I think it’s more of a wake-up call for our federation – the lack of a professional league, the lack of support for our youth national teams.”
Sinclair started playing soccer before the Canadian women’s national team reached the World Cup after missing the inaugural 1991 edition in China. The country’s first qualification from the group stage in 2003 saw the participation of Sinclair, who found the net four minutes after the start of her World Cup journey. Once the rookie among veterans, she inspired every Canadian soccer fan to dream big when the tables were turned. Under her tutelage, young people Jessie Fleming and Julia Grosso learned the master’s trade for years, ready to carry on the torch. Current and former players dedicate their found love for the game to Sinclair.
It started 35 years ago in Burnaby with a dream and ended in Vancouver, where many dreams were realized and much history was made. BC Place in British Columbia was renamed Christine Sinclair Place for one evening as the soccer world bids farewell to a legend. Sinclair closes her international chapter as a Canadian icon, international role model and sports pioneer. We were lucky to live in the era of the best goalscorer in the world.
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