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Top 10 Interesting Facts about Christine Sinclair

Sinclair takes on two defenders during a match against the United States, in January 2017.Photo by Makayla Willis – .

Christine Sinclair was born in Burnaby, British, Columbia  Canada on  June 12, 1983. She is a Canadian soccer player who plays as a forward and she is also the captain of the National Women Soccer League,  Portland Thorns FC, and the Canadian National Team. 

She has won an Olympic gold medal, 2  bronze, and 14 times as the winner of the Canada Soccer Player of the year award. Christine is the world’s all-time leader when it comes to the international goals scored for both men and women with a total of 189 goals.

She is one of the most respected and the most clapped because she is the most active footballer internationally who has won more than 300 caps. Other than Marta, she is ranked as the second-best footballer of either male or female who has scored in five World Cup editions.

She was also nominated 7 times for the women’s FIFA world player of the year. Below are the interesting facts about Christine Sinclair.

 1. Christine Sinclair Started to Play Soccer at the Age of 4

Sinclair was  4 years when her mother Sandra Sinclair realized that her daughter had talent. Christine used to follow her brother whenever he was going to play.

 Apart from having this talent, let us just say that soccer runs in her family. This is because her brother as well as two of her uncles played soccer together.

 2. She led her high school to three league championship

Canadian soccer player Christine Sinclair. Photo by, Johnmaxmena –

These teams are  FC Gold Pride ( the 2010 WPS Championship );  Western  New York Flash (the 2011 WPS Championship); Portland Thorns FC ( 2013 and 2017  NWSL Championship ).

  3. Sinclair won the  prestigious Hermann Trophy

In 2004 Sinclair scored 22 goals 12 of them assisted and 10 were game-winning. This made her college win a top prize.

 Nationally she was in the fourth position in total points but tied in the third for goals.  Later, she was named as 2007  West Coast Conference player of the year.   This was her second time leading the Pilots to the quarterfinals.

 Sinclair had finished her career at  WCCs and Portland with the highest number of goals. Since she had 110 goals back then, this made her get ranked second in NCAA History.

In 2005, she was the winner of the college soccer top prize which lasted for two consecutive years. Sinclair was the only woman who won the Hermann Trophy back to back. In addition to this, she broke the record of that season by scoring 39 goals.

 4. She once broke her nose in her first game of the 2011 world cup

This happened during the second half of the match with  Germany who was their host. The injury was caused by her opponent who was a defender.

Sinclair took an elbow to the face from Babett while they were still playing. Though the doctor asked her not to go back to the field with a broken nose, she defied him and went back to play. It shows how determined she was and how much that game meant to her.

  5. Sinclair refused to retire from the championship league

Sinclair with the Portland Thorns in 2013. Photo by Erica McCaulley-

She is the best Canadian woman soccer player because she has been playing for the last 21 years.

Because of her experience in playing, she has scored a total of 188 goals which is so high compared to that of international players. Sinclair has as played 308 games for the Canadian women’s national team.

In addition, she has also played in five FIFA for women and she also has participated in 4 Olympic games.

6. Sinclair was nominated by FIFA  for the world player of the year six times

Sinclair was nominated for having led Canada to Olympic gold in Tokyo with 188 goals. This was in 308 international appearances and 53 of them being the assist in Canadian colours.

This made her get her special award from FIFA. Furthermore,  Sinclair became more determined to play in the 2023 World Cup which will be held in Australia and  New Zealand.

 On January 29th,  2020, she scored her 185th record-breaking goal during their match with St. Kitt and Nevis at CONCACAF Women Olympics. This made her qualify for the championship in Edinburg Texas. 

After scoring this score she beat the American soccer player Abby Wambach in record total. Sinclair is now the leading international scorer in both men’s and women’s soccer championships.

7. Christine Sinclair was  featured  with Lionel Messi on the cover of the FIFA 16 video game in Canada

Sinclair is not only in the game but also on the cover. She said that she appreciated that EA was celebrating the female athlete who was featured in FIFA 16.

She also claimed that to be featured in the video game and to promote women’s soccer with Alex was such a great honour. For the very first time in the 22 years history of the franchise, the video game developers announced that the new game that was to be developed would feature  12 women, national teams.

After EA Sports announced the featuring of women’s national teams,  they recognized that Christine  Sinclair and Alex were perfect athletes based on their accomplishments. On the other hand, Messi had been on the video game cover in recent years.

8. She featured in Canadian postage stamp

Being an all-time international player and leader for the Canadian team, she was recognized for scoring  150 goals in international plays. She was also a two-time Olympian who had led Canada to an Olympic bronze medal in the year 2012.

Canada decided to honour her along with Kadeisha Buchanan on the stamp that was to be issued on 6th May. The stamp was to commemorate Canada’s hosting of FIFA  for the Women’s World Cup which took place in 2015. 

Also, not forgetting  Ayumi Kaihori a Japanese goalkeeper who had appeared in 24 international matches was included on the stamp.

9. She participated in five World Cups

Christine Sinclair having played for over 20 seasons with the senior national team, had the privilege to play her 5th FIFA  Women World Cup.

Her first matches were as follows:  the USA in 2002  followed by China in 2007, Germany in 2011, Canada in 2015, and lastly, France in 2019. 

Apart from the FIFA Women World Cup, she also participated in four football Olympics tournaments that are: Beijing in 2008 London in 2012, Rio in 2016, and Tokyo in 2020.

   10. She listens to Michael Jackson song before her match

The soccer player claims that the best feeling ever is to listen to Michael Jackson’s songs because they boost her energy. She then goes ahead and says that the music itself is evident and immediate because it does not need to be explained.’

Sinclair says that listening to Michael’s songs makes her feel the physical reality around her, subsequently, making her focus on her matches.

Sinclair, being the most honoured athlete since her debut in 2000, has achieved a lot. Her main aim is to score as many goals as possible to secure her championship record since she is known as an all-time scorer and the best team leader.