‘Why not Winnipeg’ Decorated footy veterans Scott, Gale spearheading push for NSL club By: Grace Anne Paizen Posted: 4:56 PM CDT Thursday, Apr. 23, 2026

Three months into her official — and final — retirement, Winnipeg’s own Desiree Scott has a new mission: bringing a Northern Super League team to Winnipeg.

“To continue to grow the game, especially for women and girls, and create those opportunities to inspire them to stick with sports and put Winnipeg on the map,” Scott said in an exclusive interview with the Free Press. “Remind people that we are here, we are the heart of Canada, and we deserve similar opportunities that other provinces are getting.”

The Northern Super League kicks off its second season Friday. The first Canadian women’s pro soccer league marked its inaugural season with off-the-charts success, drawing over 275,000 fans and generating nearly $30 million in league-wide revenue despite its small six-team size. And the league is looking to expand for the first time in 2027.

But while the league itself turns two years old, Scott enlisted veteran footy coach Rob Gale two years prior about the idea of bringing the league to the Keystone province.

“We wanted to be involved in year one,” Scott said. “Didn’t quite happen, but now we are both back home, taking on this project head-on.”

In addition to her decorated and record-breaking tenure on the Canadian women’s national team, four-time Olympian Scott has been a large part of successful women’s soccer leagues, including the National Women’s Soccer League — playing 10 seasons with Kansas City and Utah — and the NSL as a part of the inaugural Ottawa Rapid season. Gale, the former NWSL Portland Thorns coach, was all in for an assist on pitching a Winnipeg club.

“When that reality that Desi was coming home, I said, ‘Right, it’s time for me and her to partner up and bring a professional football club to Winnipeg,’” Gale said.

Gale added it is a shame that in the year of the 2026 FIFA World Cup being co-hosted by Canada, the United States and Mexico, when the eyes of the world will be on Canadian soccer, Winnipeg won’t have a team to showcase. But the dynamic duo has hope the current demand for women’s sports will help an NSL team be successful in the ’Peg.

“What we’re seeing right now is obviously a real demand for women’s sports, in terms of viewership,” Scott said, noting the record-breaking success of the Professional Women’s Hockey League in its third season and the expansion of the WNBA — which will be celebrating its 30th season this year — into Canada with the addition of the Toronto Tempo.

“When that reality that Desi was coming home, I said, ‘Right, it’s time for me and her to partner up and bring a professional football club to Winnipeg.’”

Scott also notes the difference of the NSL from other leagues, as it is operated “by people who have played the sport, who are invested completely in women’s sport and want it to successful for years to come.”

The biggest oversight Scott sees currently is the lack of professional women’s sports anywhere near the Prairies.

“We’re the heart of Canada, so why not Winnipeg?” Scott said.

“I think you have a great recipe for success right here in Winnipeg.”

Moreover, as Gale added, the NSL has already established itself as a Top-5 league globally.

“With wages, with the salary caps, the ability to bring in designated players, the investment level at the league level, the sponsorship is vastly different to the Canadian Premier League,” he said.

“We are a sports city, we are a soccer city, it just needs to be done properly,” he said. “It’s long overdue that we had professional women’s sports in this part of the world.”

Gale isn’t wrong. March’s PWHL Takeover Tour game was the first pro women’s sports game ever hosted in Winnipeg. An NSL team would be the first pro women’s sports team in the city.

Does this also mean fans could see “The Destroyer” come out of retirement for a potential inaugural Winnipeg club’s season?

“I’m not looking to play,” Scott said with a laugh.

“We’re the heart of Canada, so why not Winnipeg?”

“Although it’s always been a dream to play professionally in my city, but at least I can be involved with a team and a professional environment here, if it does come here, and kind of find pride in bringing that opportunity to other local Manitobans who have a dream of playing pro here.”

What about former Canadian men’s youth program head coach Gale?

“No intention to coach,” Gale said.

“I want to help [the league] grow and give others the opportunity on the coaching side. Desi and I, it’s making sure that management, leadership, ownership are the right people, good people, to make sure that we not only start a professional women’s team in Winnipeg, but we’re very competitive on and off the field and here for the long term.”

But what would that look like? And what problems are there to tackle for a women’s Winnipeg club to be successful?

“I think atmosphere and success, that those things go hand in hand,” Scott said. “You have to create the right environment with the right capacity.”

“One of our main targets is to create our own — in the interim — a temporary 6,000-seater-type stadium that can be built to maybe 10-11,000 for bigger events. But we want, again, that in-demand, that up-close-in-the-action atmosphere, that’s purpose built for us to start, and obviously long-term goals.”

The pop-up stadium has been a success for the Montreal Roses. The 5,581-seat Stade Boréale can be “packed up” in the off-season, which makes room for yearly renovations and improvements to stands and locker rooms.

“If you looked at Halifax and Montreal, and what you can do in these modular stadiums right now is really fantastic. And what we will bring here into a great location, and a sort of centralised location, ideally, is a multi-million dollar investment,” Gale said.

“We’re just at these final stages right now where we need some more local support to show everybody across the league that we are here, we mean business, and the community is right behind us.”

Scott and Gale both understand that fans are curious about what will be different about the NSL, but emphasize the importance of community support to make the club a success for the long term.

“This is a league for Canadians by Canadians, and we want Winnipeggers to fall in love with this team and support it wholeheartedly.”

“This is a league for Canadians by Canadians, and we want Winnipeggers to fall in love with this team and support it wholeheartedly,” Scott said, doubling down that local investors, especially women, will be key to the league’s success.

“Women supporting women is important,” she said.

“Our opportunity here, to bring professional soccer back to Winnipeg — and especially professional women’s sports, the first-ever franchise — is a unique opportunity,” Gale said, emphasizing their goal is to have “top-level women’s sports on our doorstep.”

“It’s 2026, come on Winnipeg,” he said, teasing, “#WhyNotWinnipeg.”

Start printing the T-shirts.

winnipegfreepress.com/graceannepaizen

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Grace Anne Paizen
Sports Editor

Grace oversees the team that produces sports journalism for the Free Press.