New stadium announced for Winnipeg's expansion professional women's soccer team

Forty years after the first national women's team camp was held in Winnipeg, officials from all levels of government and the Northern Super League gathered Tuesday to announce where the city's new team will play.

"We are proud to announce that the new stadium for the Winnipeg team will be built right here at Ralph Cantafio Soccer Complex," league president Christina Litz, a Manitoban, said at a news conference.

"You may not know, but back in 1986, the first national training camp of the Canadian women's national team happened right here on these grounds."

The new facility will be designed as a modular stadium within the complex.

Winnipeg was announced as the home of the professional women's soccer league's first-ever expansion team on July 14, bringing the number of teams in the Northern Super League to seven.

The league got a $30-million investment from international sports firm APEX, which will help support the expansion of the league, this summer.

The Northern Super League is currently in its second season. The Winnipeg team will kick off in its new modular stadium next season, thanks in no small part to Manitoba's Desiree Scott, a retired player and Olympic gold-medal winner.

"The path to the Northern Super League begins and ends with the members of the Canadian women's national team," Litz said at the news conference.

"And there would be no NSL Winnipeg without Desiree Scott."

Scott co-founded the franchise with Rob Gale, who was the first head coach and general manager of the defunct Valour FC men's soccer team.

"First announcing the Northern Super League expansion to Winnipeg was the dream," said Scott, who was a midfielder.

"This here today, announcing our new stadium, our new home — is this dream becoming