The Canadian Women’s National Team is heading to Murcia, Spain to play in the Pinatar Cup 2025 in February.
The soccer team's matches against China, Mexico and Taiwan will mark their first window under new head coach Casey Stoney, a former manager of the women's Manchester United team.
The 42-year-old joins Canada after a three-year stint with the San Diego Wave of the National Women’s Soccer League, where she won coach of the year in 2022.
“I’m really excited to get started. This camp is the first step in building the foundation for what we want to achieve in 2025 and beyond,” she said. “Each of these teams will present unique challenges, and it’s a great opportunity to assess the players and see where the team is at.”
Stoney joins a Canadian team ranked sixth in the world based on the FIFA rankings, but one in need of stability following former head coach Bev Priestman’s messy exit due to a drone spying scandal.
“I think every head coach is known for something, and for me, that’s rebuilding,” she said in her introductory media conference.
The process of hiring Stoney was not a quick one.
While Priestman wasn’t officially fired until November, the suspension from FIFA for flying a drone at the 2024 Olympics marked the end of her tenure, which happened in August.
Canada Soccer general secretary Kevin Blue says the organization was diligent in their search to find a replacement.
“We started with an initial pool of 40 or 50 candidates, many of whom were Canadian coaches,” Blue said.
In the end, the former England international defender Stoney was seen as the best choice.
Blue said philanthropic contributions from private individuals and families are helping fund Stoney’s salary, not dissimilar to the contributions from the three MLS team ownership groups helping fund men’s head coach Jesse Marsch’s salary.
Additionally, in a recent update, Canada Soccer says it expects to use philanthropy as a “key source of revenue” for the first time.
Stoney says she wants the team to create more offensive opportunities while maintaining their strong defensive play.
“We want to create more goal-scoring opportunities,” she said. “We’ve all seen how this team can defend.”
The idea of more offence excites Canadian soccer supporter Adam Warren, but he doesn’t think they should stray too far from the strong defensive play that’s been their backbone for the past several years.
“I think attacking football with the versatility of player profiles can be exciting,” Warren said. “I just worry defensively because I feel like under [Priestman] there were some very good defensive performances, but also individual mistakes really hurt them.
“If the plan is just to outscore the opponent they probably can,” he said.
Canada’s matches will see them face China on Feb. 19, Mexico on Feb. 22 and Taiwan on Feb. 25 at the Pinatar Arena in Murcia.
