Canada women's national team icon Christine Sinclair retires from international play

Updated Oct. 20, 2023 11:20 a.m. ET

Canada women's national team legend Christine Sinclair is retiring from international play, the team confirmed Friday.

"I can sit here and know that I've literally done everything I can and given all of me to this national team since I was 16 years old," she told The Canadian Press. "In terms of what I've done and knowing the work I've put into it, I have zero regrets. I know I've done everything I can for as long as I can, and the team's in good hands moving forward."

The news comes shortly after Sinclair, the all-time leader in international goals for men and women with 190, posted a cryptic video on social media Thursday of a pair of boots hanging.

The 40-year-old Sinclair is one of just three players to score at five different World Cups, alongside Brazil icon Marta and Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo.

In 2021, Sinclair led Canada to the gold medal at Summer Olympics in Tokyo. She had won the bronze medal with Canada two times before that. "After Tokyo, deep down inside, I knew I didn't want to play in Paris [at the 2024 Olympics]," she said. "The way the Tokyo Olympics ended, you can't beat it." 

She did help Canada qualify for the Paris Games last month, coming off the bench in the team's 4-1 win over Jamaica. 

Sinclair is expected to play four more games for 10th-ranked Canada, including two friendlies against No. 9 Brazil — one on Oct. 28 and another on Oct. 31 — one of which is now likely to be Sinclair's final time wearing the maple leaf badge.

At the club level, Sinclair won five league titles, most recently in 2022 with the Portland Thorns. Sinclair joined the Thorns in the NWSL's inaugural season in 2013 and has played there since. The Thorns will play in the NWSL semifinal on Nov. 5, and Sinclair reportedly plans to play one more season with Portland next year.

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