Canadian netminder Labbe gets surprise trip

Canadian international goalkeeper Stephanie Labbe is heading to the Champions League final in Kyiv, thanks to a benefactor.

DAZN, a sports streaming service that counts Canada as one of its markets, offered Labbe a free trip to Ukraine to show its support for the goalkeeper after she was denied a chance to play for the Calgary Foothills FC men’s team in the PDL (Premier Development League).

The PDL, a feeder circuit sponsored by United Soccer Leagues, said Labbe was ineligible because it is a gender-based league.

Labbe said she initially thought it was a joke when DAZN offered her the trip for two to see the Champions League women’s final between Wolfsburg and Lyon on May 24 at the Valeriy Lobanovskiy Dynamo Stadium and the men’s final between Real Madrid and Liverpool on May 26 at the NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium.

Now her overwhelming emotion is gratitude for a “once-in-a-lifetime” trip.

“As an athlete that plays that sport it’s an opportunity for me to be inspired and it’s something that all soccer players dream of either playing in or being able to see it some day,” she said in an interview. “So for me to be able to see both the women’s and the men’s final is an absolute dream.

The 31-year-old from Stony Plain, Alta., and her partner Georgia Simmerling, a Canadian track cyclist and former national team skier, leave Tuesday.

Labbe has earned 50 caps for Canada and helped the women’s team win Olympic bronze in Rio in 2016. She had been looking for a place to play since parting ways with the National Women’s Soccer League’s Washington Spirit earlier this year.

She said while the PDL decision to bar her from playing was “a shock,” she believes things happen for a reason. Now she says she is entertaining offers from several women’s teams in Europe.

In Kyiv she will get to see Canadian teammate Kadeisha Buchanan, a star defender who plays for Lyon.