Two weeks after booking a trip to the 2024 Olympics in Paris, Canada Soccer’s Women’s National Team has announced they will play two exhibition matches on home turf in preparation for next summer’s games — with an unexpected treat for soccer fans in Halifax.
The Canadian Soccer Association announced on Friday afternoon that the women’s squad, which took home a gold medal at the most recent Olympic Games in Tokyo, will play two matches against Brazil this month, first in Montreal on Oct. 28 at the Stade Saputo and again in the Nova Scotia capital on Oct. 31 at the Wanderers Grounds.
The Halifax match comes with a bit of history: It will mark the first time one of Canada Soccer’s Senior National Teams has ever played in Nova Scotia.
Derek Martin, president and founder of the Halifax Wanderers of the Canadian Premier League, expressed his excitement to witness a gold-medal team, comprised of some of the biggest names in women’s soccer, take the pitch in front of a local crowd.
“To our knowledge, this is the first time a Canadian National Soccer Team has ever played a competitive match in Nova Scotia, and it’s fitting that such a historic game be played at the Wanderers Grounds,” Martin said in a Friday press release.
“The work we’ve done to create a stadium experience at the Wanderers Grounds is what enables us to bring such an exciting match to Halifax. I know soccer fans across the East Coast will come out in numbers and show the Canadians a rocking atmosphere to cheer them on.”
In addition to making history by playing in Halifax for the first time, the match against Brazil will also be the Canadian women’s team’s first appearance in Atlantic Canada in well over a decade. Their last match in the region was held in the spring of 2012 in Monton, N.B.
The women’s soccer team qualified for the Olympics on Sept. 26 with a 2-1 win over Jamaica before a sellout crowd of 29,212 at Toronto’s BMO Field. The turnout set a record for the largest attendance for a Canadian national team game in Ontario.
On Friday, Canadian women’s coach Bev Preistman shared her anticipation for the upcoming pair of clashes against 9th-ranked Brazil.
“We are excited to officially kick off our new Olympic Journey against Brazil, a team we have a rich Olympic history with,” she said in an official release from Canada Soccer.
“To play at home in front of our fans again, after what was a fantastic experience in September, will be the perfect stage for us to kick on and build towards Paris 2024.”
The first match of the two-game series will see the Canadian women, who sit one point lower than Brazil in FIFA’s most recent national team rankings, return to Montreal for the first time since defeating New Zealand in 2021 as part of a celebration tour following their Olympic win.
The Canadian side and Brazil have remained evenly matched since the two sides first met in 1996.
Canada holds an all-time record of 10 wins, nine draws, and 10 losses against Brazil, with their most recent outing resulting in a 2-0 victory for Canada.
Supporters will be eager to see two of the most accomplished players in the women’s game take the pitch, as the world’s all-time leading international goal scorer and Canadian captain Christine Sinclair will face off against Brazil’s Marta, who holds the record for most goals scored in any World Cup.
Tickets for both matches will be available to the public on October 14.