Canada ready to play for historic Gold Medal in Olympic Final against Sweden

Canada Soccer’ Women’s National Team will look to write the final chapter of their Olympic journey  when they face Sweden in the Gold Medal match of the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament on Friday. For the first time ever, the team will play for an Olympic Gold Medal after their inspiring win over USA in the Olympic Semi-Finals, which guaranteed that Canada will return to the podium for a third consecutive time.

From 211 Member Associations, Canada and Brazil are the only nations in the world to reach the podium at the last three Olympic Games (2012, 2016, 2021): Brazil at the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament and Canada at the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament.

Canada will play Sweden in the Gold Medal match in Tokyo on Friday 6 August at 21.00 local (08.00 ET / 05.00 PT) with a live broadcast on CBC.ca. Fans will also find extended coverage across Canada Soccer’s digital channels on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube featuring the hashtag #CANWNT.

“We have come this far, so we want to come back home with a Gold Medal,” said Bev Priestman, Canada Soccer’s Women’s National Team Head Coach. “The team won’t go into that Final just happy to be there and go home with silver. We have a group of 22 players who are ready for that Final, who are ready to do something special for our country.”

Canada Soccer Women’s National Team remains undefeated at Tokyo 2020 with a 3-0-2 record. Entering Tokyo 2020, Canada was the first Canadian Olympic team to win back-to-back medals at a Summer Olympic Games in more than a century and will now be the only traditional team sport to accomplish this feat for a third consecutive Summer Games  There are only three nations in women’s football that have been on the Olympic podium on three occasions with Canada joining Germany and the USA. All three nations also boast the largest number of female registered players in the world.

Of note, Priestman was the only female Head Coach leading their team in the Semi-Finals. Priestman served as an Assistant Coach with Canada when they won their Bronze Medal at Rio 2016 and she is also the youngest Head Coach at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Football Tournament.

Like Canada, Sweden also remains undefeated at Tokyo 2020, with wins over USA, New Zealand, Australia, and Japan. The last encounter between the two nations took place in the Round of 16 at the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019™, with Sweden winning the match 1:0 and eliminating Canada from the tournament.

“We are ready to face Sweden in the Final match of Tokyo 2020,” said Canada forward Nichelle Prince. “We know they are a tough team to beat, and they had a good tournament so far, but if we can beat USA, we know we can get a victory against Sweden. I’m excited because I know what this team can do, and we want to make our country proud and bring a Gold Medal back home.”

OLYMPIC MEDAL WINNERS & CONCACAF CHAMPIONS
Canada Soccer’s Women’s National Team are two-time Olympic Bronze Medal winners (2012 and 2016) and two-time Concacaf champions (1998 and 2010). In all, Canada have participated in seven consecutive editions of the FIFA Women’s World Cup™ (1995 to 2019) and four consecutive editions of the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament (2008 to 2021). At Rio 2016, Canada Soccer’s Women’s National Team were the first Canadian Olympic team to win back-to-back medals at a summer Olympic Games in more than a century and in 2021 will become the only team in the Summer Olympic Games to return to the podium three consecutive times (2012, 2016, 2021).

Canada Soccer’s Women’s National Youth Teams, meanwhile, have won four Concacaf youth titles: the 2004 and 2008 Concacaf Women’s Under-20 Championship, the 2010 Concacaf Women’s Under-17 Championship, and the 2014 Concacaf Girls’ Under-15 Championship. Canada have qualified for seven editions of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup (including a silver medal at Canada 2002) and all six editions of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup (including a fourth-place finish at Uruguay 2018).