This week, we look at news from Canada from the new professional women's second division Project 8 League, which is set to start next year, as well as a new Canadian national Soccer Hall of Fame member, and Wales' new women's national team head coach who is a former Canadian WNT player and NWSL coach who has led her side to two UEFA EURO Qualifying wins in her first games in charge. We also wrap-up the 2023-24 Saudi Arabian Women's Premier League season, with all of their top 21 leading scorers being imports from the Americas, Europe, Africa and elsewhere in Asia.

We also touch base briefly on English international midfielder Rachel Daly calling time on her international career, who launched her professional career in the NWSL and was a pillar for years of the Houston Dash.

Canadian Women' Professional League Development Update

We have previously reported that three of the six franchises for next season's launch of the new Canadian Women's Professional League—Project 8, which is set to be a division II league behind the NWSL within North America—have been set, with Vancouver Whitecaps, Calgary Foothills and AFC Toronto joining the league (see: The Week in Women's Football: World Cup Groups A & B preview; Calgary Foothills exclusive - Tribal Football). Toronto sports franchise conglomerate MLSE (Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment), which owns the ice hockey Toronto Maple Leafs, the Canadian Football side Toronto Argonauts, Toronto Raptors of the NBA and FC Toronto of Major League Soccer, was considering a NWSL team at one time, recently chose to not pursue a Women's National Basketball franchise—which would be the first team for the league in Canada. MLSE is not involved in the AFC Toronto ownership. The Calgary Foothills does have a non-ownership relationship with Calgary's CPL men's side.

The speculation regarding the other cities to join the league has been focused on those with teams in the second division men's Canadian Premier League, which started in 2019 and currently has teams in eight cities: Vancouver, Victoria, Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Hamilton, Ottawa and Halifax. The women's league founder and former Canadian international midfielder Diana Matheson has stated her interest in having a team in Quebec—likely the Montreal area—and the city has been a soccer hotbed on the men's side dating back to the NASL of the 1980's. Matheson has said about the province: "The pool of female players in Quebec is enormous. There is so much talent in Quebec that we cannot miss it." Montreal was a strong venue for the 2015 WWC, one of six that was utilized—albeit all on artificial fields, which FIFA has said would not happen again—along with Moncton, New Brunswick, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Vancouver.

Project 8 originally was targeting eight franchises to start, but it now seems that they will begin next year with only six cities and try to expand from there over the next few seasons, making the competition even more intense among those trying to join for the inaugural season. Favourites would seem to include Halifax, Nova Scotia, where the men's CPL Wanderers leads the league in attendance with almost 6,000 fans a game average. A local group known as Atlantic Women's FC has a website and has stated its intention to join the league next year (see: www.atlanticwomensfc.ca).

For the other two cities, it seems down to Winnipeg—which would leave three teams in the west—along with either Montreal, Ottawa or Hamilton to join Toronto and Halifax (if they indeed are selected)—though Hamilton is within 90 minutes of Toronto and a different city would expand the fan and media drawing range for the league. In the west, Edmonton and Saskatoon have been mentioned but do not have CPL teams, though Edmonton has always been a good site for women's national team games and drew great crowds to the 2002 U-19 WWC and the 2015 WWC Finals. TribalFootball.com has reached out to Diana Matheson for an interview about the plans for Project 8 for next season and hope to present that interview over the next few weeks. We will also keep the reader updated on news on the other cities to join the league, the number of imports allowed and other key logistics issues, which we hope to learn over the next two to six months.

Project 8 would be only the second women's professional sports league to have teams in Canada; the Professional Women's Hockey League has teams in Montreal, Ottawa and Toronto, along with Minnesota, Boston and New York, though women's professional hockey leagues have struggled mightily in both countries.

Robyn Gayle joined Canada's Hall of Fame

Defender Robyn Gayle (38) has been honored as the 32nd women to enter the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame (which also has 32 male members) for the class of 2024. Gayle was a member of three Women's World Cup Finals teams (2007, 2011 and 2015 at home in Canada) and won an Olympic Games Bronze Medal in 2012 in London. She was capped at the full national team level on 81 occasions, scoring twice and also won a Silver Medal at the inaugural FIFA U-19 (now U-20) Women's World Cup held in Canada in 2002. She played collegiately at the University of North Carolina and at the club level for Vancouver Whitecaps, Ottawa Fury and FC Indiana in the USL W League and during the first two seasons of the NWSL with the Washington Spirit.

Rhian Wilkinson leads Wales to two victories to open 2025 UEFA Women's EURO Qualifying

In a demonstration that indeed there is life after coaching in the NWSL, former Canadian international defender Rhian Wilkinson was appointed the head coach of Wales national team on February 27, and less than two months later, Wales won its first two games in 2025 UEFA Women's EURO Qualifying. Wilkinson led the Portland Thorns to the NWSL title in her only year of coaching in the league in 2022. She then resigned from the team after being investigated—and cleared by the NWSL—of any wrongdoing after she self-reported some questionable personal interactions with a player that did not proceed forward. She resigned because she felt that she had lost the locker room and some felt that it was the end of her coaching career—as it has been with so many other former NWSL coaches who have been investigated for similar situations recently. Regardless, she was hired by Wales and has the team off to a flying start. Wilkinson has a Welsh mother and lived in Wales for 18 months as a child.

Wilkinson (41) won 183 caps and two Olympic Bronze Medals as a player, spent several years with LSK Kvinner in Norway and a year each in the NWSL with Boston Breakers and the Thorns. Before joining the Thorns as their head coach, Wilkinson was the head coach for Canada's under-17 and under-20 national teams and was an assistant for England as well as Team GB at the 2021 Olympics and Canada at the 2019 World Cup.

Wilkinson succeeded Gemma Grainger (41), who quit Wales in January to take charge of Norway's WNT. Grainger's Norway won its first EURO Qualifier in Oslo on April 5, defeating Finland 4-0 in front of only 3,106 fans, before falling to the Netherlands 1-0 in Breda four days later in front of 9,486 fans. Grainger is a native of England who coached at Leeds United and Middlesboro at home as well as England U-17's before taking the Welsh job in 2021. Wales narrowly missed qualifying for the 2023 Women's World Cup last summer in UEFA playoffs, besting Bosnia and Herzegovina 1-0 in the first round but lost to Switzerland 2-1 in the final playoff.

On April 5, Wales defeated Croatia 4-0 at home, with Seattle Reign's Jess Fishlock (37) scoring the winner in the 4th minute and a second goal after the halftime break; Fishlock has played in the NWSL for years as well as in Australia, the WSL, Scotland and early in her career in the Netherlands, France and Germany. Wales then travelled to Pdujeveon, Kosovo April 9 and triumphed by a 6-0 scoreline, with braces from Rachel Rowe (31), who joined Rangers in Scotland this season after eight campaigns with Reading in England's WSL and Elise Hughes (22), who is in her second season with London's Crystal Palace in the division two Women's Championship, where she 15 goals in 19 matches this season thus far. At the time, Palace was one point below Sunderland for the league lead (39 vs. 40) but had three games yet to play to Sunderland's two.

The league winner also captures the loan promotion spot to the WSL, with a massive final regular season match against Sunderland in London on April 28 on the horizon, which likely would determine the league champion. Entering the game on April 28, Palace was three points clear at the top of the table (45 vs. 42 points) over Charlton Athletic, with Sunderland two points behind on 40 points for third. Charlton's 1-0 away win over Sunderland in Round 21 on April 21 allowed them to leapfrog into second, thanks to a goal from Wales international Kayleigh (Green) Barton (36), which pushed the latter side out of the promotion race, while Crystal Palace defeated Lewes 2-0 away the same day. Crystal Palace entered the last match of the season on April 26 with three points more and a +22 goal difference over Charlton but had not yet mathematically clinched the title.

They did so on April 26 with a scoreless draw at home against Sunderland in front of a record crowd of 6,796 fans at Selhurst Park, as Crystal Palace qualified for the WSL for the first time in their history with 46 points. Elise Hughes finished with 16 goals from 21 games to lead the team and the league in scoring. Charlton defeated Southampton 2-0 at home with a brace from Welsh U-19 international Tegan McGowan (19) to finish second by only one point (45 points) with Sunderland third (41 points) and Southampton fourth (39 points).

Wilkinson has the professional experience to take Wales to a first major finals—EURO or Women's World Cup—and help Wales advance from League B into League A for future UEFA Nations League and major tournament qualifiers. We will follow Wilkinson's work with Wales over the months to come and Wales certainly has seemed to make an inspired choice as their new head coach.

Saudi Arabia 2023-24 Women's Premier League Regular Season Update

Al-Nassr won the 2023-24 league title, their second in a row, at the end of April 2024 by finishing ten points above Al-Ahli (see below). Their coach is Aziz-Al-Alwni, the only Saudi Arabian native coach in the league, among three from Spain, and one coach each from Jordan, Portugal, Serbia and the U.S.

Al-Riyadh was relegated to the Saudi Women's First Division League after earning only one point in 12 games, with Eastern Flames staying up with only four points, from their lone win of the season (6-1 away against Al-Riyadh) and a tie at home against the same opponent (1-1).

Al-Ahli also qualifies for the 2024 West Asia Women's Club Championship, along with title-winners Al-Nassr.

New imports added from our overview at the start of the season (see: The Week in Women's Football: Exploring the Saudi Premier League ambitions and hearing from Maria Khan - Tribal Football) are:

Al-Ahli

• Naomie Kabakaba (26) of D.R. Congo—the forward is a full international and played for the past year with Galatasaray of Turkey.

Al-Hilal

• Anastasiya Linnik (30) of Belarus—a full international midfielder with almost 30 caps, this is her first stint playing outside of the country since 2010 and she won six titles at home with Minsk and Dinamo-BGU.

Al-Qadsiah

• Ajara Nchout (31) of Cameroon—she played for Cameroon in the 2015 and 2019 WWC Finals and has played at home, in Russia, with the Western New York Flash in the NWSL, in Sweden, Norway, in Spain with Atletico Madrid and since 2021 with Inter Milan for three seasons, joining Al-Qadsiah late in the season and scoring twice in five appearances.

Al-Shabab

The Riyadh had two new signings during the season:

• Ella Kaabachi (31) of Tunisa, who was French-born and raised and played for France internationally at the youth level. She moved after two years at Soyaux and this is her first stint abroad.
• Chinaza Agoh (19) of Nigeria—she moved from Delta Queens at home and is a U-20 international for Nigeria. In 2022-23 for Delta Queens, she won the league title and was also the Most Valuable Player.

Eastern Flames

• Sevinji Jafarzade (29) of Azerbaijan—the midfielder played internationally for Azerbaijan at the U-19 and senior level and joined Eastern Flames after two seasons with Krasnodar of Russia. She started playing in Russia in 2017.

The top 21 scorers in the league were all imports, with 2023 WWC Finals scorer Ibtissam Jraidi of Al-Ahli and Morocco winning the Golden Boot title with 17 goals, as well as being the team's captain. In second was Venezuela's Oriana Altuve of Al-Shabab with 14 goals, with Al-Nassr's Lina Boussaha of Algeria third with 12 goals. Two imports were tied for fourth on 11 goals: Al-Nassar's Clara Luvanga of Tanzania and Al-Hilal's Iraqi international Shoklan Salihi of Al-Hilal. In sixth with ten goals was Naomie Kabakaba of Al-Ahli and DR Congo, followed by English/Nigerian Ashleigh Plumptre of Al-Ittihad—arguably the highest profile import this season after a fantastic WWC 2023 with Nigeria and interest at home from Manchester United before her move to West Asia—in seventh with eight goals.

The next four players on the Golden Boot table were all imports from African (CAF) nations: in eighth place with seven goals were Enekia Kasonga of Eastern Flames and Tanzania and Mavis Owusu of Al-Hilal and Ghana. Tied for tenth on six goals were Alice Kusi of Al-Ahli and Ella Kaabachi of Al-Shabab and Tunisia. Tied for 12th place with five goals were American Zaneta Wyne of Al-Qadsiah and recent Syrian international Nor Mustafa of Al-Ittihad.

Mustafa (22) played internationally for Sweden at the youth level but in February committed to play for Syria ad scored twice in three group matches at the West Asia Football Federation Women's Championship in Saudi Arabia earlier this year. Saudi Arabia is the fifth nation that she has played club ball in during her young career, after time in Sweden, England, France and Scotland. Tied for 14th place on four goals were eight imports: Moroccan international Salma Amani and Lebanon international Lili Iskander (who played in 2021-22 with Koge in Denmark) who both played with Al-Ittihad, Maysa Jbarah of Jordan and Samia Aouni of Tunisia who both play with Al-Nassr, Cameroon international Claudia Dabda and Ghana's international Elizabeth Addo—both with Al-Hilal—Al-Ittihad's English import Leighanne Robe—who played the last five seasons with Liverpool in the WSL and English Championship—and Brazilian international Rafa Travalao of Al-Riyadh.

Looking at the race for the most assists in the league, Clara Luvanga of Tanzania and Al-Nassr led the league with seven, with Saudi Arabian international Al Bandari Mobarak of Al-Shabab in second with six. In third with five assists was Elizabeth Addo of Ghana and Al-Hilal. With four assists and tied for fourth were eight players: Ashleigh Plumptre of Nigeria and Shahnaz Jebreen of Jordan—both of Al-Ittihad—along with Alice Kusi of Ghana, D.R. Congo's international Naomie Kabakaba and Saudi Arabian international Moluk Al-Hawsawi—all three with Al-Ahli—along with Saudi Arabian internationals Sara Al-Hamad of Al-Nassr and Fatimah Mansour of Al-Shabab and her Venezuelan international clubmate Oriana Altuve.

Aminata Diallo of champions Al-Nassr and a former French international—who is rebuilding her career after a scandle at PSG in France (see our regular season preview above)—had three assists as did Pakistani international Maria Khan (who we featured in our season preview, see above), English import and ex-Liverpool defender Leighanne Robe, the Swedish/Syrian import Nor Mustafa of Al-Ittihad and Al-Hilal imports Anastasia Linnik of Belarus and Shokhan Salihi of Iraq.

Saudi Arabian international in football and futsal Sara Khalid (27) of title winners Al-Nassr finished joint top among goalkeepers with eight shutouts, with American import Lindsey Harris (30) of Al-Qadsiah. She played in the past in the NWSL, Iceland, Norway and Portugal. In third was Mona Abdulrahman (27), a Saudi Arabian international, who played with Al-Shabab this season, with six clean sheets. In fourth with five shutouts was Rawand Kassab (20) of Al-Ahli, who has played for Jordan at the youth and senior level.

The advent of five Americans and top imports like 2023 WWC star Ashleigh Plumptre of Nigeria and young talent like Nor Mustafa from Sweden this past season will attract others from abroad in future campaigns. One new import this season told TribalFootball.com about the process of going to Saudi Arabia for this season and said quite frankly: "For me I was hesitant to go. The league is very new and I was unsure what it was going to be... I was comfortable and never thought about going to a different culture but that is the reason to do it, for a new adventure. It's been very good. For me it's more than football and I've grown as a person. The league is growing and why would I want to shut down on that [experience]?"

She was very positive about the benefits of her move to the Gulf: "It is a learning process for everyone but it is special and unique. Meeting all the girls—internationals and the Saudi girls as well, we are coming together… This is a new thing for the Saudi girls and the region to be full-time professional football players. We all learn from each other. Also meeting people from other teams in a small league [8 teams]; that's exciting and interesting."

This player also felt good about the future of the league from her first season, which plans to aggressively add teams over the next few years: "The league can be a big hit and is growing very quickly. We are also helping to grow the knowledge of higher level sport in the country." Her assessment overall was that this was a good move for her, explaining that: "In Saudi Arabia, I feel comfortable and safe… [There is a] Big misunderstanding of reality; I feel safe, respected and it's changed a lot here. We had to cover our legs for games but internationals don't have to now and our games [are now] on TV, which is huge… This is our job… I expect a famous name [women's] player will come next year—like Ronaldo and Benzema did on the men's side."

The growth of the Saudi Arabia Women's Premier League has been fascinating to watch over its first two seasons and has ramifications for the growth of the game in Saudi Arabia, the region and other professional leagues around the world.

Rachel Daly steps down from the English women's national team

Dynamic midfielder/forward Rachel Daly has retired from playing international football for England. She played in the second half of England's second UEFA Women' EURO qualifier on April 9 in Dublin, defeating the Republic of Ireland 2-0. She had 16 goals in 84 games for England and played for Team Britian at the 2021 Olympic Games Finals in Japan and won a Silver Medal with the Lionesses in 2023 at the Women's World Cup in Australia/New Zealand.

She played for seven years with Houston Dash and helped the team to its first title in the 2020 Challenge Cup in Utah during COVID, after playing at St. John's University in New York State. After playing on loan with West Ham in 2020, she moved full-time to the WSL with Aston Villa in 2023.

Daly wrote on her Instagram site: "I would love nothing more than to play for England forever, but the time has come for me to hang my boots up on the international stage. Playing for and representing England has been the greatest honour."

Her success with England, even though she played for multiple youth international teams, at the time was a vindication of the NWSL's quality, which was still struggling to survive in its early years when she joined as the number 6 overall college draft pick by the Dash in 2016, for year four of the league.

Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribal Football. His latest book Beyond Bend it Like Beckham is on the global game of women's football. Get your copy today.Follow Tim on Twitter: @TimGrainey