Northern Super League offers U Sports women's soccer players a new lease on careers

In February, Sophia Ferreira began an eye-opening experience.

For four months, the defender from the reigning U Sports champion UBC Thunderbirds played professionally in Portugal's Liga BPI with the club Vilaverdense FC in the city of Vila Verde.

"European soccer is just different than here," said Ferreira, who hails from Coquitlam, B.C., but has played nationally for Portugal.

"Girls just have set their life goal to doing it. I think here it can become a hobby and you can even go to university if it's still a hobby. But after that, it turns into your life — that's how a lot of the girls in Europe see it. 

"So it's like they're literally committing everything to playing pro soccer, and I think I want to bring that here because I think more people could go if they really committed to it."

In April, the Northern Super League — a professional league founded by ex-national team star Diana Matheson — will begin play in six cities across Canada, including Vancouver.

The NSL is the first league of its kind in Canada, a step up from League1 British Columbia, the pro-am outfit established in 2021 where many of Ferreira's UBC teammates spend their off-season.

Ferreira, 21, said she hopes the NSL can further bridge the gap from U Sports to professional soccer.

"I think the NSL is putting a light on U Sports a little bit because we are the university league in Canada that will hopefully build to the NSL just like the NCAA Division I teams are the level below the NWSL [in the U.S.]," she said. 

Both Ferreira and Thunderbirds captain Nisa Reehal said the optimism and excitement surrounding the NSL has permeated their locker room.

No longer are their post-university options limited to retirement or heading overseas.

"When I was in grade 10, there was really nowhere that I knew of that it was possible to go pro as a woman. So it's really cool that now girls growing up, they have the opportunity to see that we have a professional league coming to Canada and that that's a journey for them that they can go on," Reehal said.

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Reehal, now in her sixth and final year of U Sports eligibility at 23 years old, said she first stepped onto a soccer pitch at the age of five.