There are legendary athletes and then there are legendary athletes who reshape the landscape of their sport and even their country.
And somewhere further beyond that there is Christine Sinclair. Who needs no introduction. Before reading this, you already know Christine is the greatest Canadian soccer player of all time. There really is no argument when it comes to one of Canada’s greatest international athletes in any sport ever.
Born and raised in Burnaby, Christine’s family was always heavily involved in soccer. Her mother Sandra served as president of the South Burnaby Metro Club, where Christine began playing at age four. Her father Bill played in the Pacific Coast Soccer League, while her uncles Brian and Bruce played professionally in the NASL. Christine was a soccer prodigy at every age level, starring on BC provincial teams as the youngest player often by several years. At age 16, she made her Canadian senior national team debut at the 2000 Algarve Cup. Naturally she led Canada in scoring.
Twenty-three record-breaking years later, Christine stood as the all-time leading goal scorer in international soccer history for both men and women with 190 goals scored. Her 331 international appearances rank second all-time worldwide. She captained Canada at four Olympic Games, highlighted by a historic gold medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, defeating Sweden 2-1 in the final in a shootout. This marked Canada’s first-ever Olympic gold medal won in women’s soccer and is widely considered the greatest moment in Canadian soccer history. Earlier, Christine carried Canada to back-to-back Olympic bronze medals at the 2012 London and 2016 Rio Olympics, in the former finishing as the tournament’s leading goal scorer.
Christine was a perennial standout for Canada scoring 10 career goals at six Women’s World Cups, including Canada’s best-ever fourth-place finish in 2003. She also led Canada to gold at the 2011 Pan American Games and the 2010 CONCACAF Women’s Championship.
On the club side, she won league championships with the 2006 Vancouver Whitecaps Women (USL W-League), 2010 FC Gold Pride (WPS), 2011 Western New York Flash (WPS), and 2013, 2017, & 2022 Portland Thorns (NWSL). She also led the University of Portland Pilots to two NCAA national championships in 2002 and 2005.
Individually, Christine was a 14-time winner of Canada Soccer’s Player of the Year award, the 2012 recipient of the Northern Star Award as Canada’s top athlete of the year, and the 2021 recipient of the FIFA Special Award for Outstanding Career Achievement.
Most importantly, from her inspiration and advocacy an entire generation of Canadian girls and women have benefited from increased and improved opportunities to play soccer at the professional, amateur, and youth levels.
Written and researched by Jason Beck, Curator of the BC Sports Hall of Fame.