The World Cup is over, but the summer of soccer in Canada is still far from done.

Attention this week turns to the women’s game, where the Northern Super League is adding a seventh team, and Canada finally has a domestic women’s club championship.

Plus, the Concacaf U-20 Championship kick off this week, where CanMNT will look to end a 42-year absence from the Olympic Games.

All this and more in this week’s edition of The Northern Pitch.

For the first time since its inception, the Northern Super League is expanding as Winnipeg becomes team number seven in the fledgling league.

Introduced by local legend Desiree Scott, Winnipeg will join the league for the 2027 season. Plenty of questions remain, including where they will play, but it’s a big moment for the league and the sport in this country.

Former Valour FC and Canadian youth national team head coach Rob Gale also co-founded the new Winnipeg club. Having lost one pro team, Valour FC of the CPL after the 2025 season, this is a big win for soccer fans in the region.

Further expansion is hoped to be coming soon, with the league looking to add an eighth team for 2028.

Now, the hard work begins for Winnipeg to find a stadium, staff and crucially, players to help them hit the ground running next season.

Next month will be another historic one for Canadian soccer, as the CSA announced this week the launch of the inaugural 2026-27 W Canadian Championship.

The tournament, which kicks off on August 3, serves as not only the national club championship, but also qualification for the 2027 Concacaf W Champions Cup.

Eight teams will compete for the inaugural edition, with the Northern Super League’s six clubs joined by OPL champions Simcoe Country Rovers and CS Mont-Royal Outremont from Ligue1 Québec.

They will begin the competition with a single-match quarterfinal round, where Halifax hosts Ottawa Rapids, Calgary Wild host CS Mont-Royal Outremont (at ATCO Field), and Montréal Roses host Simcoe Country Rovers.

In a unique fourth quarterfinal, AFC Toronto and Vancouver Rise meet on October 4 in the other quarterfinal, which will also be a league match in the NSL.

The competition then resumes in 2027 with the semifinal and final round. All matches will be available live on the NSL YouTube Channel and TSN+.

It’s an exciting moment for Canadian club football, and adds to an already huge week for the NSL in particular.

Jesse Marsch is already back to work as the CanMNT coach will be in Mexico for the next few weeks coaching the next generation of Canadian players at the Concacaf U-20 Championship.

Marsch named his 21-player squad for the tournament, headlined by exciting young talents like CF Montréal duo Aleksandr Guboglo and Owen Graham-Roache, Toronto FC’s Antone Bossenberry and Richard Chukwu, plus CPL stars Sergei Kozlovskiy and Shola Jimoh.

Since it falls outside of the traditional FIFA windows, Canada were not able to call up a lot of its European-based young ballers as they are in preseason with their respective clubs. They did, however, bring in GD Chaves forward Lucas Lima, Bologna FC midfielder Jesse Saputo, IFK Stocksund defender Max Vogele and Celta Vigo goalkeeper Izan Server.

Canada take on Panama on Sunday, July 26, Honduras on Wednesday, July 29 and Jamaica on Saturday, August 1 in Group C action. The top two teams from each group advance to the knockout round, as well as the best two third-place finishers.

Winning the quarter-final means a place at the 2027 U-20 World Cup. Canada has not qualified since they hosted in 2007. Win the final, or reach the final against the United States (who have already qualified as hosts) and a team earns Concacaf’s lone berth at the Olympics.

It’s a big test for Canada’s next generation, but also an opportunity to make more history.

⛰️ Sonis stars again for the Summit. It was Cloé Lacasse earlier in the season, and now it’s Janine Sonis’ turn to find performances week after week. She made up for giving away an earlier penalty by lofting in a deceptive cross to make it 1-1 against her former Portland Thorns. The goal served as the catalyst as Denver won 2-1.

🇫🇷 Aleks Guboglo on the move? Look out, it’s another Tom Bogert scoop. CFMTL could be looking at another academy product headed to Europe as Ligue 1’s Stade Reims are reportedly interested. Tommy Scoops adds the deal is close and will be a loan with an option to buy.

🇸🇪 Noah Abatneh to Sweden? Just down the road in Ottawa, another young Canadian is wanted by a European side. Atlético defender Noah Abatneh is close to joining Swedish club Helsingborg — the former home of one Atiba Hutchinson — according to Josh Healey.

🌴 Clovis Archange signs a first-team deal. This week was just full of good news for young Canadian ballers. The U20 defender from Montréal signed an MLS Homegrown contract with Orlando City. He’s made six appearances for OCSC B in MLS NEXT Pro.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Marie Levasseur joins Birmingham City. The CanWNT fullback is headed across the English channel for the first time in her career. Having spent the last six seasons in France, Levasseur signed a deal with newly promoted WSL side Birmingham City this week.

🇨🇿 Bryan Ouanda scores against Lyon. Sure, it’s only pre-season. But it’s still a big step in the right direction for the young forward with Slavia Prague. It was a tidy solo effort too, as he put his defender on skates before finding the finish.

☄️ Sophie Schmidt assist. Never count Soph out. Schmidt knocked down a late cross for Houston, setting up the Dash’s last-minute equalizer against Louisville in a 1-1 game on Saturday.

🤕 Jordyn Huitema carted off. We couldn’t avoid the injury bug, not even for a couple weeks. Huitema had to be subbed off during the first half of Chicago’s 2-0 loss to Angel City after a non-contact injury. We’re not saying the three letters either.

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🥱 The Canadian Classique left… much to be desired. With the return of MLS, we were all excited to tap back into club football, but this was not it. CF Montreal hosted Toronto FC to one of the most boring Darby, ending 0-0. This matchup usually guarantees top football and spicy moments. But this time, both clubs seemed to negate each other, leading to a game where not much happened.

🪓 Kamal Miller came up big in the Cascadia Darby. On the other side of the continent, another Darby unfolded in the Northwest, where goals were scored. The Seattle Sounders hosted the Portland Timbers to a six-goal thriller. The Timbers defeated the home club 5-1 with Kamal Miller scoring the second goal in the 56th minute and denying a goal in the 28th minute. Solid performance for the CanMNT CB.

☀️ Shaffelburg and Choinière are victorious in LA. The two CanMNT ballers are back with LAFC and were featured in the starting lineup in the El Trafico Darby against the LA Galaxy. Jacob Shaffelburg was involved in the first goal by Marco Delgado. While Mathieu Choinière was also involved in Son Heung-Min’s goal. The game ended 3-0 for LAFC.

😮 The Olympic stadium will be renovated. Specifically, the province has approved the plans for interior renovations for the Big O on top of the ongoing renovations to its roof. The full renovations are expected to be completed in 2028. CF Montreal welcomes the news and is keen to use the renovated stadium as its new home since the MLS will be moving to a winter schedule in 2027.

Wednesday, July 22
FC Cincinnati vs. Vancouver Whitecaps (4:30PM PT)
New England Revolution vs. Toronto FC (7:30PM ET)
Nashville SC vs. CF Montréal (8:30PM ET)

Saturday, July 25
CF Montréal vs. Inter Miami CF (7:30PM ET @ Stade Saputo)
DC United vs. Toronto FC (7:30PM ET)
Minnesota United vs. Vancouver Whitecaps (5:30PM PT)

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💨 Forge vs Pacific postponed. The game that would have taken place in Hamilton was postponed due to smoke from wildfires in northern Ontario.

1️⃣ Ontario Darby ends in a draw in Ottawa. Atletico Ottawa hosted Inter Toronto FC in a derby matchup. Despite the game ending 1-1, this was an impressive performance from both clubs as they went tit-for-tat throughout the game. It was entertaining football.

😳 FC Supra rocked at home against Vancouver. VFC travelled to Laval to play FC Supra, determined to make up for crashing out of the CanChamp. This was Supra’s biggest defeat of the season thus far as they lost 5-1 to the away team. This is Supra’s third straight loss in the CPL, and with this win, Vancouver FC now hold the fourth spot in the table. The real learning curve for Supra’s inaugural season begins now.

🧤 Stalemate in the Marco Carducci Darby. That’s not what the matchup is actually called, but it seems apt given the late goal-line stop from the former Cavs keeper. There were goals from Tobias Warschewski and Isaiah Johnston in this one, one open-play and one from the spot—but perhaps not in the order most would have expected. It (also) finished 1-1.

Friday, July 24
Halifax Wanderers vs. FC Supra (6PM AT @ Wanderers Grounds)
Vancouver FC vs. Cavalry FC (7PM PT @ Willoughby Community Park)

Sunday, July 26
Atlético Ottawa vs. Pacific FC (2PM ET @ TD Place Stadium)
Inter Toronto vs. Forge FC (5PM ET @ York Lions Stadium)

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🪽 Ottawa stay on top. The Ottawa Rapid hosted the Halifax Tides at TD Place Stadium. Ottawa defeated the Tides 2-1 and held onto their first-place position. For Halifax, they continue to chase points but this game displayed they had the grind needed to move up in the table.

🌹 Montreal Roses get the dub in Calgary. The Wild hosted the Roses in a game where the Roses are aiming to close the gap with first-placed Ottawa Rapid. MTL found the net twice in the first half and saw out the game with a 2-0 win.

🏔️ Vancouver dominates in Toronto. The Rise travelled to the GTA and faced off in a rematch of the 2025 final against AFC Toronto. A slow start saw Toronto hand Vancouver a 3-0 lead that they ultimately failed to claw back from. Worse yet, it saw the Rise leapfrog over them into 3rd place in the table.

🤍 Katrine Pedersen to depart at season’s end. The Dane made the difficult announcement to Ottawa Rapid fans this week that she will be leaving the club at the end of this season to be closer to family. It’s a commendable decision and we wish the best for her in the next stage of her career.

Wednesday, July 22
Calgary Wild vs. Ottawa Rapid (7PM MT @ McMahon Stadium)

Thursday, July 23
Montréal Roses vs. AFC Toronto (7PM ET @ Stade Boréale)

Saturday, July 25
Vancouver Rise vs. Halifax Tides (1PM PT @ Swangard Stadium)

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