Women's pro soccer league aims to give girls a future in sport

Girls who grow up playing soccer in Calgary will soon be able to pursue the dream of playing for the hometown team. Or perhaps owning it.

Calgary Foothills Soccer Club held a news conference Friday to talk about plans for the club to join a new Canadian women's professional soccer league.

Announced earlier this month, the league has yet to be named, but it aims to host its inaugural season in 2025 with eight teams in competition.

Foothills is one of the league's founding teams. The other is the Vancouver Whitecaps FC.

Supporters are calling it a major step for Canadian women's soccer. They believe that Calgary can play an important role.

Diana Matheson, a former national women's soccer team member and Olympic medallist, is helping to build Calgary's team with her business partners at Project 8 Sports.

Matheson says Canadian women's soccertalent is world class, and Calgary is a good pro-league fit.

"Obviously, there's a huge sport culture here," she said. "Again, I think it's the Olympian capital of Canada. This club is community based, and it's coming up from the ground up, which is incredible."

Deanna Zumwalt, the club's director of women's pro sport, says community support will be essential as work gets underway to develop the team over the next few years.

Additionally, Zumwalt said, the project is about inclusion, equality in sportand opportunities for women.

"Staying involved in the sport you love is going to be a reality," she said. "It could very well be as a professional soccer player. It could be in the front office. It could be being an executive on the team. It could be working in so many different ways. It could be owning a piece of the team."

While she was planning to be dreafted by a professional team in the U.S., Stordy now aims to be one of the first professional league players in Canada.

"Now having this [league], obviously, my ultimate goal would be to come home and play soccer here," she said.

There's been no word yet on a venue for Calgary'steam.

So far, league sponsors include Air Canada and CIBC.