One province stole all the Canadian soccer headlines this week.

It was quite the Saturday in Québec, with FC Supra claiming a dramatic victory in their inaugural match against Pacific, while CF Montréal sacked Marco Donadel after a 2-1 loss to the Philadelphia Union.

Plus, the Canadian women’s national team kicked off the FIFA series and plenty more ahead in this week’s edition of The Northern Pitch.

Québécois football has arrived in the CPL.

The long-anticipated moment is finally here: FC Supra du Québec have played their first professional match, opening on the road against Pacific FC. Not only was it their debut, but they returned to Montréal with a 3–2 win over the hosts.

Loïc Kwemi has already etched his name into history. It was a nervy first half for Supra—understandably so—but a moment of brilliance from the striker broke the deadlock. Kwemi becomes the club’s first-ever CPL goal scorer, a symbolic milestone for Québécois football. Already a respected figure in the local scene, his place in club history is secured.

Shoutout to Sean Rea, Alexandre Marcoux, and Joakim Milli. Former CF Montréal and Halifax Wanderers winger Rea found the net and helped dictate the tempo throughout. U SPORTS draft pick Marcoux scored the winner in his professional debut. Meanwhile, former CS Saint-Laurent goalkeeper Milli announced himself with two game-changing saves to keep Supra alive. There is real talent in this squad.

Doubts have been addressed. Supra’s pre-season results—losses to Ligue1 Québec and university sides—raised questions about their readiness. But while friendlies are a time for experimentation, the performance against Pacific has quieted early concerns and settled nerves.

There will be growing pains. Despite the fairytale start, challenges are inevitable. This is uncharted territory for both the organization and much of the roster. Still, if there’s a north star to guide the club, it may well be this message from president Rocco Placentino.

CanWNT kicked off the 2026 FIFA Series Brazil with a comfortable 4-0 victory over Zambia on Saturday.

Canada opened the scoring in the 41st minute when Ottawa Rapid NSL Player of the Year DB Pridham picked out Nichelle Prince in the middle. Just a few minutes later, Prince had another, this time doing it all herself and collecting her own rebound before making it 2-0.

In the 80th minute came a moment super exciting for the future of the national team. Annabelle Chukwu scored her first senior goal, heading home a cross from fellow young star Olivia Smith. Those two are going to be connecting for years to come.

Not to be outdone by Prince, Chukwu then completed a brace of her own, turning her player in the box and wrong-footing the goalkeeper.

Canada have a bigger test on Wednesday, when they face South Korea (3:30 p.m. ET / 12:30 p.m. PT on OneSoccer & TSN), but it’s a great start to the camp.

Every day, 4.5 million readers turn to 1440 for their factual news fix. We sift through 100+ sources to bring you a complete summary of politics, global events, business, and culture — all in a brief 5-minute email. No spin. No slant. Just clarity.

Join for free today!

Ciao means both hi and bye in Italian—and that’s exactly what happened to Marco Donadel. After 383 days as CF Montréal’s head coach, he’s been fired from the club. Ciao.

But this isn’t really about Donadel. It’s about what he represents: the latest symptom of a much bigger, all-too-familiar story.

9 wins, 10 draws, 23 losses. Not a great record. After a 2–1 loss in their home opener against a last-place Philadelphia Union side, the results became too much for the organization to ignore.

In Montréal, this has become a yearly tradition: rebuild, reset, repeat. New coach, new players, same results. It’s a familiar trope for both club and city — new mayor, new winter, same potholes.

The last coach to bring any real stability and success was Wilfried Nancy, who left following a falling out with Joey Saputo. Since then, the cycle hasn’t stopped.

Things aren’t looking good for Montréal—or the Saputos. When Tom Bogert is going on a Twitter rant about your club, you know something’s off. Questions are mounting, and fans are running out of patience. For some, Supra may start to look like a genuine alternative.

Will there be a real rebuild? Deep sigh. It’s hard to say anymore. Montréalers have a deep, almost spiritual connection to the Canadiens. If the Saputos can follow Geoff Molson’s lead with the Habs, it will take patience, consistency, and a willingness to let football people do their jobs.

But will it happen? History suggests otherwise.

Thank you to everyone who entered the Winning Pitch giveaway last week!

There were 35 entries completed, and 8 lucky winners have been selected…

Congratulations to: Andre L, Melissa T, Alexander T, Carl B, Olivia S, Jason B, Andrew C and Stephan A! 🎉

Keep an eye out for the books in your mailbox next week, and if you didn’t luck out this time, don’t worry—we’ll have more giveaways soon.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Cyle Larin scores. Look out Ryan Reynolds, there’s a new Canadian in town. Larin was on the scoresheet as his Southampton thrashed Wrexham, 5-1, on Tuesday. The goal was a well-taken one too, as Cyle was gifted a free breakaway for the decisive marker.

🇮🇹 Ismaël Koné scores. They can’t all be pretty goals, but they all do sure count the same. IK90 bundled home an equalizer for Sassuolo on Sunday, even though a late Genoa goal meant a 2-1 loss. This one saw a red for each side, too, after a donnybrook in the tunnel at half-time.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Liam Millar assist. The Championship lads continue to produce. Although he won’t be happy with a 2-1 loss after teammate John Lundstram was sent off, Millar can at least rest easy in the fact that his early assist put the team in a place to succeed.

🇪🇸 Tani Oluwaseyi assist. Tani Time finally struck again for Villarreal this week. While it wasn’t a goal, the assist and build-up on the Yellow Submarine’s opener in a 2-1 win over Athletic was just as beautiful as any beautiful goal could be.

🇨🇿 Adonija Ouanda scores. He’s Czech-ing in from Slovácko. The 20-year old forward scored his third goal in nine appearances this weekend, chasing down and somehow finishing a ball that nearly looked a lost cause in a 3-1 loss.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 A new deal for Jamie Knight-Lebel. The Robins have their guy, long-term. While JKL has been on loan at Swindon this season, Bristol City have clearly been keeping tabs on their CB prospect as they announced a new deal through June 2029 on Thursday.

🤕 Marcelo Flores injured. It has to stop. Somehow. If not only for the sanity of the CanMNT medical staff. Jesse Marsch’s newest attacking option will be sidelined for “several weeks” after Tigres announced he has suffered a myofascial tear in his left leg.

Follow Canucks Abroad on Twitter, Bluesky and Instagram.

☀️ Mathieu Choinière balled out in the Champions Cup. The CanMNT midfielder has been enjoying life in LA as of late. This past week, LAFC hosted and defeated Mexican heavyweights Cruz Azul 3-0 in the first leg. Choinière has assisted Son Heung-Min and David Martinez’s goals.

🔴 TFC draw after a roller-coaster final ten minutes. It took until the 83rd minute for either side to get on the board but once Kévin Denkey was sent off and Gilberto Flores’ own goal trickled past Roman Celentano in the Cincy net, it seemed destined for all three points to stay in Toronto. Or at least, that was, until Kenji Mboma Dem shocked the Reds on the counter to make it a 1-1 draw into injury time.

🌊 VWFC cruise to victory. Like many Whitecaps wins since Jesper Sorensen took charge of the dugout, this one against NYCFC was about as comfortable as it’s ever going to get. From start to finish, momentum was firmly in the ‘Caps favour. Mathias Laborda and Brian White punctuated the ends of both halves as it ended 2-0 at BC Place.

🍁 Kosi Thompson with a brace. You can take the kid out of Toronto, but you can’t take the Toronto out of the kid — or maybe, you can. In his first start for the Rapids since being traded, ex-Reds defender Kosi Thompson scored not one, but two goals in a 6-2 demolition of Houston. Perhaps there is some truth in the ‘players doing better after leaving Toronto’ trope, after all.

Follow Canucks At Home on Twitter and Bluesky.

🦝 Julian Altobelli doing Julian Altobelli things. York Un- we mean, Inter Toronto officially turned a new page in their club history books this weekend, hitting the pitch for the first time with their new badge and colours. Some things remained the same — and we don’t just mean the York9-era neon green VIP seats — as Altobelli turned in a brace. Still, Halifax had more than enough fight in them as Kareem Sow and Tavio Ciccarelli equalized twice for a 2-2 stalemate.

🐴 Cavalry successfully avenge last year’s final. It didn’t take long for the Cavs to find the back of the net, not that they needed any more motivation against their 2025 CPL Final opponents. Daan Klomp started the party early, Harry Paton scored for the second week in a row, and Goteh Ntignee batted clean-up as Ottawa were on the losing end again in a 3-1 final. Oh, and there was some drama after the FT whistle.

🔨 Forge win it in stoppage time. Another cruel, cruel finish for Vancouver FC. After looking solid last week against Halifax, only for Lorenzo Callegari to deliver a flash of free kick magic, it was Forge’s Maxime Filion to wreck VFC hearts this week. His stoppage-time finish pushed the pendulum to the orange side of this one after it swung back and forth for all 90 minutes of the 1-0 result.

Follow Canucks At Home on Twitter and Bluesky.

🎧 Electric Circus hits the airwaves. Nelly Furtado and Boi-1da’s new track from Canada Soccer’s upcoming album WHAT IF IT ALL GOES RIGHT? has finally dropped, and it’s a banger.

📈 Canada Soccer publish April community update. The CSA published their latest community update this week, headlined by a financial update that included a $6.5 million surplus forecasted for 2026. Other updates included recent agreements with CSMA and the men’s and women’s national team players’ associations, and an update on the National Training Centre. Read the full details here.

🇨🇦 Canada Celebrates Tour details revealed. FIFA, this week, also unveiled full details for the Canada Celebrates Tour, leading up to and through this summer’s World Cup. The tour will feature 38 stops from coast-to-coast-to-coast, offering dates and locations within a two-hour drive for 75% of Canadians.