Janine Helland

née Janine Wood... speaks English... she was five years old when she started playing soccer for Rio Terrace... favourites have included Wayne Gretzky... earned Bachelor of Education from the University of Alberta... in 2014, became one of the first two women honoured as Canada Soccer Life Members (Sonia Denoncourt and Janine Helland)... suffered knee injury December 1994... suffered knee injury summer 1998...

honoured by the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2013... honoured as a Canada Soccer Life Member... honoured by the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame, the University of Alberta Sports Wall of Fame and the Canada West Hall of Fame... honoured in 2010 as part of Alberta Soccer’s Centennial Recognition of the Top Female Players... she was part of the first Canadian team to play at the FIFA Women’s World Cup (Sweden 1995), recognised as a Canada Soccer Team of Distinction... Canada Soccer Player of the Year in 1997...

one of seven footballers that was part of the first two Canadian teams to feature at the FIFA Women’s World Cup (Sweden 1995 and USA 1999)... won three Concacaf medals with Canada (1991 silver, 1993 bronze, 1994 silver)... career 47 international “A” appearances across 11 years from 1989 to 1999 with Canada Soccer's Women's National Team... when she left international football, she ranked third in international “A” appearances (47) with Canada Soccer’s Women’s National Team... from USA 1999, was noted by the FIFA Women’s World Cup Technical Study Group as one of Canada’s outstanding players...

club career in Canada and Germany... with Edmonton Angels SC, a two-time Canada Soccer National Championships winner (Jubilee Trophy in 1995 and 1999) before she missed the club’s third title in 2000 (she had just given birth to her daughter five weeks earlier)...

attended the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015 in Edmonton... served as a draw assistant for the Official Draw of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Canada 2004...

wrote Neil Turnbull in 1990, “Janine Wood has very good positioning and plays nice balls diagonally forward”... wrote Sylvie Béliveau in 1995, “Janine’s leadership on the field was very good this year, her positioning was good... Janine’s technical skills and ability to carry the ball were great”...

said Janine Helland in 2021, “my one move, and it was literally my one move, was the Cruyff turn, so if I hadn’t seen that (on TV) then I don’t know what I would have done because it was my one move but it worked every time”...

said Suzanne Muir in 2021 of teammate Janine Helland, “she had a way of raising people up around her. A team isn’t just about what happens on the field, it’s more. I think she represented us in an exemplary manner and she was a great leader and teammate on and off the field”...