Alberta to host 2020 Women’s Nationals
August event a tune up for World Women’s championship and part of National Team evaluation
Football Canada is pleased to announce that Alberta will be the host province for the 2020 Women’s Nationals.
The event will take place from July 30 to August 8, 2020 in Sherwood Park. Details on participating teams and tournament schedule will be announced at a later date.
Overall, this national tournament host teams from coast-to-coast and comes off the heels of the 2017 IFAF Women’s Worlds Championships, which were held in Langley, British Columbia. Provinces that have competed in tournament history include Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, New Brunswick and Manitoba.
At the 2016 Women’s Nationals in Regina, host province Saskatchewan defeated Quebec 34-22 to win gold. In the bronze medal game, Alberta cruised to a 30-12 victory over New Brunswick.
“Since the inaugural Women’s World’s Championships in 2010, Canada has been a leader when it comes to the growth and development of women’s tackle football,” Football Canada Executive Director Shannon Donovan commented. “Fueled by the increased support for women’s football, we are excited to see the strides our country has made when provinces compete in Alberta this upcoming summer.”
Not only will this be a competitive tournament, but it will also mark the official start to the identification process for the Women’s National Team that will compete at the IFAF Women’s World Championships in 2021 in Finland.
Canada is hoping to build on their finish at the 2017 tournament where they claimed silver after losing the gold medal game to the United States 41-15.
“It’s (Women’s Nationals) incredibly important to our Women’s National Team coaches and our selection process,” Women’s National Team head coach Ryan Clutterbuck commented. “At the 2016 tournament in Regina we had four representatives [the head coach and three coordinators] working around the clock to scout each game, attend practices and meet with coaches from the provincial teams.”
To see the best of the best from across Canada competing against each other in a format that closely follows the IFAF World Championships — we can’t get that anywhere else.”
