Christine Sinclair

Her father Bill Sinclair (1972) and uncles Brian (1972) and Bruce Gant (1990) were all Canadian amateur soccer champions while Brian and Bruce also played at the professional level.

Her father Bill played for the University of British Columbia and the New Westminster Blues in the Pacific Coast Soccer League.

Christine Sinclair also played basketball and baseball as a youth.

Playing in a Burnaby boys' baseball league, she made the local under-11 all-star team as a second baseman.

With the team, she chose the number 12 as a tribute to Toronto Blue Jays' second baseman Hall of Famer, Roberto Alomar.

Sinclair was selected to British Columbia's under-14 girls all-star soccer team at age 11 and led club team Burnaby Girls Soccer Club to six league titles, five provincial titles, and two top-five national finishes.

She attended Burnaby South Secondary School where she led the soccer team to three league championships.

Christine Margaret Sinclair (born June 12, 1983) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a forward for the Portland Thorns of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and, from 2000 until her retirement from international football in 2023, was a member of the Canadian national team.

An Olympic gold medallist, two-time Olympic bronze medallist, CONCACAF champion, and 14-time winner of the Canada Soccer Player of the Year award, Sinclair is officially the world's all-time leader for international goals scored for men or women with 190 goals, and is one of the most-capped international soccer players with 331 appearances.

Born in Burnaby, British Columbia, to Bill and Sandra Sinclair on June 12, 1983, Sinclair began playing soccer at the age of four for an under-7 team.

At age 15, she attended matches of the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup in Portland, Oregon.

She played for Canada's under-18 national team before making her debut at the senior level at age 16 at the 2000 Algarve Cup where she scored three goals.

In 2001, Sinclair arrived at the University of Portland where she made an immediate impact on an already formidable soccer program.

She recorded 23 goals and eight assists in her first season, leading all first-year students in NCAA Division I total scoring.

She was named Freshman of the Year by Soccer America, and was a consensus All-America selection.

She won the national collegiate Division I championship twice (2002, 2005) with the University of Portland.

During her second season with the Pilots in 2002, Sinclair led Division I in goals with 26.

She scored two goals during the national championship game against conference rival Santa Clara, the second of which was a golden goal that won the Pilots the national championship.

Sinclair earned three different national Player of the Year honours, and was a finalist for the Hermann Trophy.

Named West Coast Conference Player of the Year, she earned All-American honours for the second consecutive year.

In the wake of her success for the Canadian national teams and American collegiate soccer, she was named by The Globe and Mail as one of the 25 most influential people in Canadian sports the same year.

Having played over 20 seasons with the senior national team, Sinclair has participated in six FIFA Women's World Cups (United States 2003, China 2007, Germany 2011, Canada 2015, France 2019, Australia and New Zealand 2023) and four Olympic Football Tournaments (Beijing 2008, London 2012, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020), captaining the national team to third-place finishes in 2012 and 2016 and first place in 2020.

She is one of three players to score at five World Cup editions, alongside Marta and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Sinclair chose to redshirt the 2003 season to play for Canada at the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup.

She returned to Portland in 2004 and scored 22 goals for the Pilots.

Following the season, she was named West Coast Conference (WCC) Player of the Year, received All-American honours, and was awarded the Hermann Trophy.

During Sinclair's senior year at Portland, she set an all-time Division I goal-scoring record with 39.

She capped off her collegiate career with two goals in a 4–0 rout of UCLA in the national title game.

This performance also gave her a career total of 25 goals in NCAA tournament play, also a record.

She was named WCC Player of the Year becoming the second player in conference history to be honoured three times.

Sinclair was also named Academic All-American of the Year by ESPN The Magazine after graduating with a 3.75 grade point average in life sciences.

She was awarded the M.A.C. Hermann Trophy, becoming the fourth player and third woman to win it in back-to-back years.

As a result of her record-setting season, Sinclair went on to win the Honda Sports Award as the nation's top soccer player, as well as the Honda-Broderick Cup, as the college woman athlete of the year.

She became the third soccer player to win the award, joining Mia Hamm and Cindy Daws.

Sinclair finished her collegiate career with 110 goals and 32 assists in 94 games.

Sinclair was shortlisted for FIFA Women's World Player of the Year seven times (2005–08, 2010, 2012, and 2016), and was referred to by college teammate and international rival Megan Rapinoe as the best player to never win the award.

At the club level, Sinclair has won championships with three professional teams: the 2010 WPS Championship with FC Gold Pride, the 2011 WPS Championship with Western New York Flash, and the 2013, 2017, and 2022 NWSL Championships with Portland Thorns FC.

She received the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada's athlete of the year in 2012, the first soccer player so honoured, and was a two-time recipient of the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award as Canada's female athlete of the year (2012, 2020).

In September 2013, Sinclair was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame and in June 2017, she was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada by Governor General David Johnston.

Sinclair received the Best FIFA Special Award in recognition of her status as the world's all-time leading scorer in 2022.