The Agenda with Steve Paikin (Audio) - Kicking Off Canada's First Professional Women's Soccer League

Episode Date: April 15, 2025

AFC Toronto is set to kick-off Canada's first professional women's soccer league this weekend at BMO field. The Northern Super League, co-founded by Canadian star, Diana Matheson, includes six teams across the country competing at the highest level. The Agenda joined an AFC Toronto practice at York Lions Stadium to see how head coach Marko Milanovic and teammates, Cloey Uddenberg and Sarah Rollins, are preparing for the national stage.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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The future of Canadian women's soccer players is here. We hope that we put a product on the field that people in the city will be proud of. I just hope young fans leave here inspired that like, oh I can do this, I can play professional right here at home. And the way you score Chloe is when you come in, you can play this pass first time. My journey towards becoming the head coach of AFC Toronto was a long one, an interesting one. I was involved in various levels of the game here in Ontario. I was with youth clubs. I worked at TMU University as well, and most recently I was involved with League One Ontario.

Choosing this roster was a very complicated process. It's something that took place over months and months. We started with a clear idea of how we wanted to play and based on that we built positional profiles for each position. And then based on that we started recruiting, looking at players domestically first, and Canadian players, and then internationally as well. Throughout my career, in between every summer,

I'd play League One Ontario, which I think is what kind of connected me to ASC Toronto. I came into contact with them, like, kind of unexpectedly, just them reaching out when they could, to see if I'd be wanting to take an opportunity to play here at home, and for me, that was just an easy answer of yes. I've always wanted to play professional soccer, but to be right here at home in my community is like something that I've like always dreamed of.

I coach a lot in Aurora and now just like in Toronto in general. So to be able to have those young girls come out to watch me like achieve my dream of because they have the same aspirations is like what really is why I chose here. I'm born and raised in Toronto. I grew up in the East End playing soccer at Leeside, and then I moved to North Toronto, where I was there for many, many years, and they've always pushed me up the ranks,

allowed me to play up and allowed me to show my talents, which then led me to go to UBC. I was there for two years where we won back-to-back national championships. I love the city of Toronto and I love playing soccer there my whole life and it's just nice to be home with my family. Coming back to play in my home province means like everything to me because growing up I thought I'd have to move away to play professional soccer so So I prepared myself for that, moved away for college, went to the U.S. just because I thought it was going to prepare me best to be away from my family and friends and eventually either have to go to the United States or Europe.

But being able to come back here is just something I never thought I would get that chance to do. I have visions and dreams all the time of just like that first like home opener and like seeing my family in the stands and then like of course like just as the season goes on like having people I know just be in the stands here at Yorkline Stadium and I think for me like that's just like I've always dreamt of that. Since I was a kid I probably didn't really picture playing professional because it wasn't a big thing like women's pro sports wasn't huge.

And so I think it's so important now that it's coming up and I think it's important to be a part of it and show young girls like me who didn't see that that they can now see that in their future. There's a lot of responsibility when it comes to creating a product that's going to excite the fans, hopefully inspire future generations of girls that are in this city and in this country.

So I feel we have a lot of responsibility because it's an opening, it's a first year and we're actually involved in something very, very special here. AFC Toronto in comparison to a lot of other teams and just pro leagues in general, we really are community-based and it's beyond just us playing on the field. It's like, how can we connect the community to soccer and sport? One of our core values is happiness and joy.

And once we hope that it's felt every day when we come to the facility, and we really enjoy being here. And I'm very passionate about individual development of each player. My main goal is obviously for us to win but also that players leave this place better players and better people. The passion and the love for soccer brings us together like everyone on my team I know they want to win and they just love to play they want to push each other to be better every day. Each of us just have such a competitive drive to us to compete and win.

And that shows in our practices. I've been on teams where maybe not everyone's there willing to put their 100% in. And I think for us, everybody is just here to do their job and do whatever it takes to come together. Marco's coaching style is very competitive and very team-like. Like I feel like every time he coaches us it's always moving as a team and connecting and communicating and just being

competitive, wanting to step on the ball, wanting to put pressure, just wanting to be quick and fast and like just kind of be ahead of the game really. The quality that he demands and the level of play he demands is something I really respect because it just creates an overall good environment for us to excel in. If this is on you play it all day, if it's on keep playing, okay just make sure you connect you understand? Your actions need to be explosive. The coaching staff and Marco in general do a really good job of like pushing us when

we need to be and being hard on us, whereas like giving us that praise when we really do deserve it. So I think you can put a lot of trust into a coach when they can be honest and truthful with you and not just kind of maybe just feed you all the good stuff all the time. Be aware of your first step. That's the only reason we're doing it. I want my players to remember me as someone who really cared about them first, as people, and then obviously someone who helped them on field and with their game.

Being part of this inaugural season is something very special. When TFC first came around, it was such an inspiration for the boys in this city and in the country, and I hope we can do the same for the girls and and really be that example that you can play professional soccer in your own country in your own city. April 19th is our home opener at BMO Field at 4 p.m. it's gonna be just incredible atmosphere I know all the Toronto fans are coming out and I'm just really excited. I remember when I first signed and know okay okay, the home opener is going to be a big deal. But I just think as the weeks have gone on and again the team has come together,

the more excited I am just to start and be able to have that community around us and just get going and be able to put on a performance and have people want to keep coming out to our games. I think this league should have happened a long time ago but it's never too late. The men's World Cup is also coming up and it's a really exciting time for the game in North America and I think the timing, although it's a bit late, it's also the right time in a way because there's so much excitement about the game.

Good action, good! I think everyone's starting to realize that women's sports is legit and that we are as competitive as men and as hungry as men and as talented as men. Time your movement, explosive, explosive, here we go! We're not just here to kind of run a league or a team, a professional team just like how other teams have done it. We're here to make something different and do something within our community. Here we go, here we go! Good! I would like to see more players, especially like in my community, play at the professional level here in this league. So I just hope like young fans leave here inspired that like, oh I can do this.

I can play professional right here at home. This is just going to be the start of history. Good Strike!