In North America, the National Women’s Soccer
\u200bLeague was the first professional team sport that returned to action
\u200bthrough its eight-team Challenge Cup series in Utah. Four Canadians were
\u200bpart of the winning Houston Dash side, with special recognition to
\u200bNichelle Prince who won her first professional trophy shortly after the
\u200bsudden passing of her father in June.
Sophie Schmidt earned Player
\u200bof the Month honours after her header off the crossbar in the
\u200bsemi-finals led to the winning goal and then she scored the winning goal
\u200bherself from the penalty spot in the NWSL Challenge Cup final. Schmidt
\u200bbecame just the second Canadian to score in an NWSL final (after
\u200bChristine Sinclair in 2013) and the first to score the
\u200bchampionship-winning goal.
The 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup final was
\u200bthe first to feature five Canadian players including four starters:
\u200bSchmidt, Prince and Allysha Chapman for Houston (along with Maegan Kelly
\u200bon the bench); and rookie Bianca St-Georges for Chicago Red Stars. In
\u200ball, 13 Canadians took part in the competition, including debutants
\u200bSt-Georges and Évelyne Viens. St-Georges was a standout in the Chicago
\u200bsemi-final with a goal and an assist while goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan
\u200bwas the best goalkeeper of the tournament (Golden Glove) after leading
\u200bSky Blue FC to the semi-finals for the first time in seven years.
As
\u200bfootball continues to return to action in Europe, several Canadians
\u200bwill be in action in August across domestic Cup competitions and the
\u200b2019-20 UEFA Champions League final rounds. Of note, Kadeisha Buchanan
\u200b(FCF Olympique Lyonnais) and Ashley Lawrence (Paris Saint-Germain) will
\u200bcompete in UEFA Women’s Champions League while Jessie Fleming will make
\u200bher debut in England after signing her first professional contract with
\u200bChelsea FC.
On the heels of winning his second German Bundesliga
\u200btitle in June, Alphonso Davies won his second German Cup title with FC
\u200bBayern Munich on 4 July. Davies, the 2019-20 Bundesliga Rookie of the
\u200bSeason, was just the second Canadian to win both German titles in 2019
\u200b(after Paul Stalteri in 2004), but now is the first Canadian to win both
\u200btitles twice. At the end of the Bundesliga season, he set a new league
\u200brecord by registering a speed of 36.5 kilometres per hour during a
\u200bmatch.
Following in the footsteps of the NWSL, Major League Soccer
\u200bgot underway with the MLS is Back tournament, with the quarter-finals
\u200bto run through 1 August, the semi-finals scheduled for 5-6 August, and
\u200bthe Championship final set for 11 August. In the month of July,
\u200bgoalkeeper Thomas Hasal made a remarkable debut for Vancouver Whitecaps
\u200bFC after he replaced injured teammate Maxime Crépeau in goal, notably
\u200bposting back-to-back clean sheets in the next two matches.
In
\u200bEurope, Junior Hoilett scored a pair of goals in July as Cardiff City FC
\u200bmade a run to the Championship playoffs while Atiba Hutchinson scored
\u200btwice as Be\u015fikta\u015f JK qualified for 2020-21 UEFA Champions League.
\u200bCanadian centre back Manjrekar James, meanwhile, won the Danish
\u200bSuperliga title with FC Midtjylland in July while goalkeeper Milan
\u200bBorjan won the Serbian SuperLiga for the third year in a row in June.