The Yukon Selects women's futsal team made a historic mark in Yukon soccer at the 2025 Futsal Canadian Championships, achieving a fourth-place finish, the best result ever for the Territories. The national competition was held in Regina, Saskatchewan, from April 10 to 13.
According to the team's coach, Yukon Selects F.C. has been sending a core group of players to compete at the women's national futsal championships for the past three years, and their results have steadily improved over time.
“It's very unusual for Yukon teams to achieve something like this. So, yeah, we're really proud of it. But I also would say that this team is likely going to keep the mindset of improving on their results every year,” Sarah Hanson said.
The Yukon women's futsal team of 13 competed against soccer teams from Manitoba, Quebec, Ontario and an Indigenous women's team based in Duncan, B.C. Ultimately, the Yukon women's futsal team lost the third-place spot to Windsor Caboto F.C. on April 13.
“Quebec was a very good team and well organized. They made it to the final. They were challenging for us and I think we played really well against them. We were tied up until three minutes left in the game, but we started pressing in an effort to win the game. When we opened up, it cost us, unfortunately, but I would say that was probably our best, most challenging game,” Hanson said.
“And then Ontario, obviously, in the third-place game was a good team and challenging, but I think just the magnitude of the game got to us.”
The Yukon Selects F.C.’s women's futsal team sharpened their skills on the Whitehorse St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Secondary School courts leading up to the national competition, Hanson said. The coaching strategy has so far focused on building cohesion within the team and adapting new strategies between tournaments, she added.
“It was definitely a performance that we're really proud of because of a lot of commitment to the plan that we laid out. And so yes, it's challenging to bring players together who haven't really played games together, with the exception of maybe the year before at Nationals,” Hanson said.
Since their first Futsal Nationals, the Yukon Selects women's team has evolved sharply over a short period of time, Hanson said. The core group of players remains consistent, with about 60 per cent of the roster staying the same, typically comprising 12-14 players, including locals, students and strategic pickup players.
The team’s performance has seen steady improvement at the Futsal Canadian Championships, progressing from 6th place in the first year to 7th place in the second year and achieving 4th place this year. Developments include improvements to overall performance, enhancements to team communication and more consistent pre-tournament preparation.
“We go over game tapes from previous years together and share tactics and set plays, and all that on a group chat where we communicate very regularly and try to keep everyone connected,” Hanson said.
The club’s approach to addressing recruitment challenges includes tackling the issue of young girls dropping out of the sport, Hanson said. The Yukon Selects are looking at potentially re-establishing youth programming to create a pathway for young athletes to join the team, using recent successes to generate excitement about the sport.
According to Hanson, the club is working on building a more consistent training environment, developing a more formal club structure with clear programming aimed at showcasing Yukon's futsal talent and using the current team's success to inspire future Yukon youth.
The coach emphasized that their current approach is somewhat "reverse", using good results to attract more players and build programming, rather than having an established program first. The key focus is transforming this year's success into sustainable growth for futsal in the Yukon.
“I think that the fact that we are consistently having good results will kind of shine a light on the fact that there are good things in football happening in the Yukon, and then hopefully we'll be able to use that good attention and these good results to build some programming that makes young women and young players excited about being a part of futsal,” Hanson said.
Contact Jake Howarth at jake.howarth@yukon-news.com
