VANCOUVER, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- Canada unveiled its logo for the country's hosting of the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup on Friday as gala ceremonies took place simultaneously in the six host cities staging games.
Set against the country's iconic maple leaf, the core concept of the logo symbolizes such Canadian themes as mountains, water, wheat and a vast coast-to-coast landscape that will host the 52-game tournament over five time zones.
With games in Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montreal and Moncton during a three-week period in June and July, Victor Montagliani, the Canadian Soccer Association president, said the country was ready to host the world's biggest single sport event for women after past successes.
He referred to the country's hosting of the 2007 FIFA U20 World Cup that drew 1.19 million fans over 52 matches, and the inaugural FIFA U19 Women's World Championship when the U.S. beat Canada 1-0 in the final before 47,784 spectators in Edmonton.
Well I think we're really ready. We've already proven that with previous events, said Montagliani, who took over as CSA head in May. And this country really galvanizes to these international events and I really expect that all our games will be sold out because Canadians really support not only the game of football, but support this team.
Unlike Canada's struggling men's program that made its lone World Cup appearance in 1986 when the team failed to score a goal in three games, the Canadian women have been in five of the six Women's World Cups to date, with a fourth place in 2003 its best finish.
With 850,000 registered soccer players in Canada (350,000 of them girls) and the number forecast to top one million within two to three years, according to the CSA, a major part in the popularity of the sport has been because of Christine Sinclair.
The 29-year-old Vancouver-area native is the greatest player the country has ever produced, male or female, and is currently third on the all-time international scoring list with 143 goals, behind American greats Abby Wambach (148) and Mia Hamm (158). Earlier this week Sinclair was named Canada's athlete of the year for leading the country to a bronze medal in the London Olympic Games.
With the soft-spoken striker turning 32 during the 2015 World Cup she felt that her game could only get better in the run-up to the tournament.
Absolutely, I mean soccer is one of those sports that if you take care of yourself you actually get better with age. You can become a smarter player and I think that's what actually (happened) in London, not necessarily that I was anymore fit or physically better, I'm a smarter player now than I was when I was 19, 20 and three more years is only going to help.
Sinclair welcomed the expanded format for the next World Cup as 24 countries and regions will play in the tournament, up from the 16 teams that played in Germany last year when Japan upset the U.S.A. in the final.
The expanded format will likely allow a rebuilding China national team, currently ranked 17th in the world, to return to the tournament after failing to qualify for Germany.
It's going to be interesting to see what countries get in, but it's only going to help expand the game, the women's game, throughout the world, Sinclair said. These up-and-coming countries the only way they're going to learn how to play on the world stage is to take part in these types of tournaments and play against the best teams in the world.
After crashing out of last year's Women's World Cup when Sinclair scored Canada's only goal playing with a broken nose, no less, against hosts Germany, national team coach John Herdman said he expected a different Canada squad to come out in 2015 before its home crowd.
Before I took the team on, the team hadn't gone past the quarterfinals before. There was a bit of a 'Canada can't' mindset, said the Englishman, who previously guided New Zealand to the 2008 Beijing Olympics and two Women's World Cup appearances.
The mindset now is 'Canada can,' you know, we can do it. And there will be a group of these players that will continue on and be there in 2015 that can do it. So that's crucial. Mindset is everything and we certainly are in a good space in that area.
FIFA will announce which Canadian city will host the final game of the 2015 Women's World Cup next spring.