Jonathan David and Christine Sinclair have been named Canada Soccer’s Players of the Month for May 2021. David from Ottawa, Ontario became the first Canadian to win the Ligue 1 championship in France, notably scoring the opening goal of the title-clinching victory on the final day of the season. Sinclair of Burnaby, British Columbia led Portland Thorns FC to the NWSL Challenge Cup title and reached a pair of goalscoring milestones in the month of May.
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\u200bIt was indeed a trophy-filled month for Canadians in Europe. Alongside trophies won by David in France and Sinclair in USA, other Canadians to win championships in 2020-21 were Milan Borjan with Red Star Belgrade (both the Serbian SuperLiga and Serbian Cup), Alphonso Davies with FC Bayern Munich (Bundesliga), Jessie Fleming with Chelsea FC (League Cup and FA Women’s Super Cup), Atiba Hutchinson and Cyle Larin with Be\u015fikta\u015f JK (Süper Lig and Turkish Cup), Cloé Lacasse with Benfica (Campeonato Nacional Feminino and Taça da Liga), Alyssa Lagonia with Servette FC Chênois (Swiss Super League), David Wotherspoon with St. Johnstone FC (Scottish Cup and League Cup), and Chandra Bednar and Caroline Kehrer with Ferencváros (Hungarian League and Cup). Scott Arfield, meanwhile, had already clinched the 2020-21 Scottish Premiership with Rangers FC while Jordyn Huitema and Ashley Lawrence lead the Championnat de France with Paris Saint-Germain FC ahead of Kadeisha Buchanan and Olympique Lyonnais (the league wraps up in the first week of June).
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\u200bDavid set the record for most goals by a Canadian soccer player in a top-5 men’s European league in 2020-21 (either England, France, Germany, Italy or Spain). He set the record with his 12th goal on 7 May (one more than previous record holder Tomasz Radzinski) and then scored his 13th goal on the final fixture of the season, a 2:1 win over Angers to clinch first place in France’s Ligue 1.
Sinclair, meanwhile, reached two NWSL goalscoring records in May. She scored her career 60th NWSL goal in all competitions on 8 May, the opening goal of the 2021 NWSL Challenge Cup Final. She then scored her 50th NWSL Regular Season goal on 16 May in the opening match of the 2021 season.
Looking ahead to the month of June, Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team is preparing for FIFA World Cup Qualifiers and the Concacaf Gold Cup while Canada Soccer’s Women’s National Team in preparing for the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team face Aruba on Saturday 5 June and then Suriname on Tuesday 8 June; Canada Soccer’s Women’s National Team faces Czech Republic on Friday 11 June and then Brazil on Monday 14 June. Fans will find extended coverage across Canada Soccer’s digital channels on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube featuring the hashtags #CANMNT and #CANWNT.
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\u200bPLAYERS of the MONTH:
\u200bMay 2021 – Jonathan David & Christine Sinclair
\u200bApril 2021 – Jonathan David & Evelyne Viens
\u200bMarch 2021 – Cyle Larin & Jessie Fleming
\u200bFebruary 2021 – Alphonso Davies & Shelina Zadorsky
\u200bJanuary 2021 – Cyle Larin & Ashley Lawrence