An Edmonton city councillor has thrown her support behind a petition to bring women’s professional soccer to the city. Thu Parmar, who represents the southwest Ward sipiwiyiniwak, said Tuesday that the time is ripe for supporters here to push for a franchise in the Northern Super League (NSL), a seven-team Canadian circuit that recently accepted Winnipeg into the fold after a campaign in the fellow Prairie city. Parmar, who was elected to city council last fall, told CTV News Edmonton “there’s absolutely momentum” and a spectator appetite for women’s sports given not only Canada’s recent hosting duties for the men’s World Cup but also the popularity of the Professional Women’s Hockey League PWHL), which has seen large crowds in several markets and has doubled in size (to 12 teams) since it began play two years ago. Edmonton has hosted three PWHL neutral-site ‘Takeover Tour’ games the past two seasons, drawing large crowds to Rogers Place. Edmonton is currently in the global sports spotlight for another female pro circuit, the Ladies Professional Golf Association, which is staging the CPKC Canadian Women’s Open this week at the city’s Royal Mayfair Golf Club. The online soccer petition, for which supporters want to see 5,000 signatures, uses a headline of ‘Edmonton is built for this.’ “Edmonton is a sports city, and we are heavily invested in sports, mainly hockey,” Parmar said. “This is a good opportunity to support women and girls being able to look towards being professional and looking at how you could be part of the sports ecosystem as a female and as a girl.” She said if Winnipeg can put together a successful bid for a team in the NSL, so can Edmonton, and that she and the group behind the petition is looking for investors and support. “We’re actually wondering (if) women’s soccer is of interest to Edmontonians,” Parmar said. “We’re looking to see what the numbers look like and just getting that petition out there ... I’m happy to lend my support to all women’s sports in Edmonton, whether it be the PWHL or the Northern Super League, the soccer team, or the golf that we’ll be (starting Thursday).” The NSL started play in 2025 with teams in Toronto, Montreal, Halifax, Vancouver, Ottawa and Calgary. The city last boasted a professional soccer team in 2022, when the men’s FC Edmonton squad folded after 12 years competing in the North American Soccer League and the Canadian Premier League. With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Jeremy Thompson
