Christine Sinclair is the most successful soccer player to ever compete for Canada. She made her debut with the senior national team as a 16 year old at the 2000 Algarve Cup where she also scored her first international goal.
Since then, she has accumulated more than 160 career goals, ranking her second all-time but first among active players. Sinclair has competed at two Olympic Games, winning bronze at London 2012 where she was the tournament’s leading scorer with six of Canada’s 12 goals, including a hat trick in the controversial semifinal extra-time loss to the United States.
She was named Canada’s Closing Ceremony flagbearer and became the first soccer player to win the Lou Marsh Award as Canadian Athlete of the Year.
Sinclair first came to national prominence during the 2002 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Edmonton where she won the Golden Boot as the tournament’s leading scorer with 10 goals (including five against England) and the Golden Ball as tournament MVP as Canada finished second. A year later she competed at her first of four FIFA Women’s World Cups, scoring three goals and helping Canada reach the bronze medal game.
In 2011, she showed her determination to compete after breaking her nose in Canada’s opening match, forcing her to wear a face mask for the rest of the tournament. Later that year, she led Canada to gold at the Pan Am Games in Guadalajara, following up on her bronze medal in 2007. Sinclair was named Canada Soccer’s female Player of the Year 11 straight times from 2004 to 2014 and is a multiple time nominee for FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year.
On 21 July 2021, Sinclair played her 300th match for Canada, in which she scored a goal in a 1–1 draw against Japan in the 2020 Summer Olympics. Canada accumulated one win and two tied games during group play, before advancing to face Brazil in the quarter-final. Scoreless during regular play, Canada prevailed in the shootout 4–3, with Sinclair being denied on the opening attempt.
Canada faced the United States in the semi-final, a rematch of the 2012 Olympic semi-final. Canada defeated the United States 1–0 due to a goal from a penalty kick by Jessie Fleming, advancing to the Olympic final for the first time in the team’s history. Sinclair opined afterward that “it was nice to get a little revenge.”
On August 6, 2021, Canada defeated Sweden 3-2 on penalty kicks to capture the gold medal in women’s soccer.
