When Esther Brossard found out Canada was launching a women's futsal team, the 18-year-old wrote to newly appointed coach Alexandre Da Rocha to put her hand up.
"She said 'I just want to tell you I've played futsal. I think I'm pretty good at it and I think if you have a camp, I'd be happy to a participate in it,'" said Da Rocha. "I knew who she was. She was part of my list already. But I thought the way she did it (showed) she wanted to be there."
Brossard made the team and repaid Da Rocha's faith by helping Canada win the inaugural CONCACAF W Futsal Championship on the weekend in Guatemala.
Brossard led the nine-team tournament with eight goals as Canada booked its ticket to the first-ever FIFA Futsal Women’s World Cup by defeating Mexico in a penalty shootout in Saturday's semifinal in Guatemala City. Then the Canadian women dispatched Panama 8-2 in Sunday's final with Brossard scoring three goals.
"She grew a lot in these two weeks, I'm going to be honest. As a player, but also a person … I was very proud of her. Very proud," said Da Rocha.
"The whole tournament was an incredible adventure," said Brossard.
Brossard was just happy to be invited to the selection camp, becoming the youngest player on the squad.
Asked if she thought she would make the team, Brossard answered "Not at all. Because there's a lot of great players across Canada."
Futsal is a five-a-side indoor soccer game played in two 20-minute halves. Like hockey, teams can make changes on the fly.
Brossard took up futsal in high school, joining a local club at the age of 15 and playing over the winter.
A sophomore at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, the Montreal native also plays outdoors and earned an invitation to camp with the Canadian under-20 team in February as a training player ahead of the 2025 CONCACAF Women’s U-20 Qualifiers.
The 16-team FIFA Futsal World Cup is slated for Nov. 21 to Dec. 7 in the Philippines. Da Rocha hopes his side will get some games in Europe before the tournament.
The Canadian performance in Guatemala is especially impressive given that Da Rocha's team has not played any international games prior to the competition.
"So that gave us maybe a little slower start in the first game," said Da Rocha, referencing Canada's 3-2 loss to Costa Rica which was followed by four straight wins. "But this team just grew so much throughout those five games we had in six days. They bonded so well. They committed to what they had to do, showed so much resilience and character.
"This is by far my greatest accomplishment, not just because of the results but the way that people conducted themselves throughout the whole time. I mean we got so much positive feedback from everyone — CONCACAF, from the referees, even the hotel staff. We just had a classy team."
Canada advanced to the semifinals after beating the United States 3-1 to finish runner-up to Costa Rica at 2-1-0 in Group B. Panama downed Costa Rica 3-1 in the other semifinal.
The Canada-Mexico semifinal Saturday went to a shootout after finishing tied 4-4 after two five-minute periods of extra time.
Mexico scored three unanswered goals in the first half before Canada answered with four of its own in the first four minutes of the second half. Trailing 4-3, Mexico tied the game with 1.8 seconds remaining on a goal with its net empty.
Canada captain Léa Palacio-Tellier won the tournament's Best Goalkeeper Award. Canada also received the Fair Play Award.
Da Rocha, a former coach of the Quebec's women's futsal team and assistant coach with the Canadian men's futsal side, was tasked with assembling the national team. Named coach on Jan. 31, Da Rocha held talent evaluation camps in several provinces before holding a final selection camp in late May.
Female futsal players have long campaigned for a FIFA championship. In 2022, the International Women’s Futsal Players Association condemned FIFAs “public neglect towards women futsal players."
FIFA held the first Futsal Men's World Cup in 1989 with the 2028 edition featuring 24 teams. Defending champion Brazil has won six of the 10 tournaments to date, finishing runner-up once and third twice.
Canada has not participated since being one of the 16 invited countries for the inaugural men's tournament, failing to advance out of the first round after losing to Argentina and Belgium before downing Japan.
There have been eight editions of the CONCACAF Men's Futsal Championship with Canada participating in four of them. Canada's best showing was making the quarterfinals, in both 2021 and 2024.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 7, 2025
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
