MONTREAL — Marinette Pichon has never shied away from a challenge.
Widely regarded as the first French female soccer star, Pichon also made a difference off the field by championing women's and LGBTQ rights throughout her playing career in the 1990s and 2000s.
Now she's helping make history in Canada as sporting director for the Northern Super League's Montreal Roses FC.
"A chance to write a new story, a unique one, starting your own legacy in Canada," Pichon said. "It was a very big challenge to say, 'You know what? Start from nowhere. Just a clean sheet.'"
The long-awaited Canadian women's pro league kicked off Wednesday with a match between Vancouver Rise FC and Calgary Wild FC. The Roses begin their inaugural season Saturday at AFC Toronto before hosting their home opener May 3 against Ottawa Rapid FC.
It's a new chapter for the 49-year-old Pichon, whose storied legacy in France inspired books and films.
Her accomplishments include 81 goals in 112 international appearances that set a national team standard until Eugénie Le Sommer broke her scoring record in 2020.
Pichon also led France to its first Women's World Cup in 2003, scoring the country's first-ever goal at the tournament. She became the first French female soccer player to sign a professional contract the previous year, flying overseas to join the Philadelphia Charge of the now-defunct Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA).
All this after a traumatic childhood, where playing soccer offered an escape from a difficult home life.
Pichon has described her father as a violent alcoholic — the "devil incarnate" when intoxicated. When she was a young adult, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for sexually assaulting her grandmother.
Despite that difficult upbringing, she says she wouldn't change her past because overcoming adversity shaped her into a persevering person who wants to have a positive impact.
"Facing some issues made me stronger, made me smarter," she said. "Now I know that if someone hurts and feels bad, you can just see it and have a discussion and that helps a lot.
"I learned that to be a good human takes a lot of courage, discussion. And love."
Off the pitch, Pichon married French wheelchair basketball player Ingrid Moatti. Following the 2012 birth of their son, Gaël, Pichon became the second woman in France to be granted paternity leave.
Pichon opened up about her life in her 2018 autobiography "Ne Jamais Rien Lâcher," which translates to, "Never Give Up." The book was adapted into the French biopic "Marinette," which featured at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2023.
One of the movie's final scenes re-enacts Pichon's last dance with her national team, a 1-1 draw against England that ended France's hopes of qualifying for the 2007 Women's World Cup.
Pichon said after the match that the unprofessional state of women's soccer in the country impacted her decision to retire at only 30.
"We have to get up at 7 a.m., work for eight or nine hours and train in the evenings. Try it for 10 months and you'll see how good your form is at the end," she said at the time. "The United States, Norway and Germany will always be above us because they're semi-professional."
Canadian legend Christine Sinclair echoed that sentiment at the 2023 World Cup — her last major tournament — after the Canadian women failed to advance from the group stage.
"It is like a wake-up call for our federation — the lack of a professional league, the lack of support for our youth national teams," Sinclair said. "You're just going to continue to see teams reach our level, surpass us, whatever you want to call it, if things don't change."
Now there's a professional league in Canada. And Pichon is a big part of it.
When longtime CFL executive Annie Larouche became president of the Roses, hiring Pichon, who had first moved to the Montreal area in 2019 for a job with Soccer Lac St-Louis, was a no-brainer.
"Marinette was the first draft choice," Larouche said. "Marinette's a legend, but she's an amazing person. She has this professional and human approach."
Pichon embraced the challenge of assembling a team from scratch. After hiring head coach Robert Rositoiu, she scouted for players with a team-first mentality.
"Wasn't my plan to come and play in the NSL this first year, but the project really excited me with Marinette," said forward Tanya Boychuk, who expects the Roses to play a possession-based style. "She's super positive, the environment that she's created here is so special."
Pichon believes it will take a collective effort for the six-team NSL to become sustainable and says owners will have to be patient as the NSL develops, because generating revenue will be difficult early on.
Her list of ingredients for NSL success includes providing players first-rate training conditions, garnering consistent media coverage and enticing stars to join the fray.
Keeping tabs on Canadian national team standouts Vanessa Gilles and Evelyne Viens, among others playing for bigger clubs in Europe and the U.S., is always on her agenda.
"We need to have one of them, maybe two, three, more, because they are part of the history of Canada," she said. "They know that at one moment, they need to come back also and say, 'Now I will contribute to the development of the league.'"
It's yet another challenge Pichon feels ready to tackle.
"I'm just glad to be here and be the leader of this wonderful project," she said. "I know that we are going to some turbulent zone, but it's OK because we have the right people, right humans in the right place.
"All together, we can fix it."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 17, 2025.
Daniel Rainbird, The Canadian Press
