By Canadian Press

Canada women celebrate international debut by winning CONCACAF W Futsal Championship

May 4, 2025 | 6:11 PM

GUATEMALA CITY — Esther Brossard scored three goals to help Canada win the inaugural CONCACAF W Futsal Championship with a comprehensive 8-2 win over Panama in Sunday’s final.

The Canadian women had already booked their ticket to the first-ever FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup by defeating Mexico in a penalty shootout in the semifinal Saturday. The two finalists at the nine-team CONCACAF competition will represent the region at the 16-team FIFA Futsal World Cup, slated for Nov. 21 to Dec. 7 in the Philippines.

The Canadian performance is especially impressive given the CONCACAF tournament marked the debut of the Canadian women’s futsal squad.

“From Day 1, these players embraced the challenge of making history,” said Canada coach Alexandre Da Rocha. “This is a moment of pride for our players, our staff and the entire futsal community in Canada.

“We entered believing we could compete — and now we leave as champions, with our ticket to the World Cup secured. It’s an incredible start for this program.”

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Futsal is a five-a-side indoor soccer game played in two 20-minute halves. Like hockey, teams can make changes on the fly.

Erica Hindmarsh, Joëlle Gosselin, Keera Melenhorst, Stephie-Ann Dadaille and Shayla He also scored for Canada in the final at the Domo Polideportivo.

Canada’s Léa Palacio-Tellier won the tournament’s Best Goalkeeper Award while Brossard, who led the tournament with eight goals, earned the tournament’s Best Player Award. Canada also received the Fair Play Award.

The Canada-Mexico semifinal Saturday went to the shootout after finishing tied 4-4 after two five-minute periods of extra time.

Mexico scored three unanswered goals in the first half before Canada answered with four of its own in the first four minutes of the second half. Trailing 4-3, Mexico tied the game with 1.8 seconds remaining on a goal by Rubi Gomez with its net empty.

Panama downed Costa Rica 3-1 in the other semifinal.

The Canadians moved into the semifinals after beating the U.S. 3-1 to finish runner-up to Costa Rica at 2-1-0 in Group B.

Da Rocha, a former coach of the Quebec’s women’s futsal team and assistant coach with the Canadian men’s futsal side, was tasked with assembling the national team. Named coach on Jan. 31, Da Rocha held talent evaluation camps in several provinces before holding a final selection camp in late May.

Female futsal players have long campaigned for a FIFA championship. In 2022, the International Women’s Futsal Players Association condemned FIFAs “public neglect towards women futsal players.”

FIFA held the first Futsal Men’s World Cup in 1989 with the 2028 edition featuring 24 teams. Defending champion Brazil has won six of the 10 tournaments to date, finishing runner-up once and third twice.

Canada has not participated since being one of the 16 invited countries for the inaugural men’s tournament, failing to advance out of the first round after losing to Argentina and Belgium before downing Japan.

That 1989 futsal team included Paul Dolan, Pat Harrington, Nick De Santis, Eddy Berdusco, Lyndon Hooper and Alex Bunbury. Dolan was also a member of Canada’s 1986 FIFA World Cup squad in Mexico.

There have been eight editions of the CONCACAF Men’s Futsal Championship with Canada participating in four of them. Canada’s best showing was making the quarterfinals, in both 2021 and 2024.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 4, 2025.

The Canadian Press