By Canadian Press

Lyon defender Kadeisha Buchanan named Canadian Women’s Player of the Year

Dec 4, 2020 | 7:35 AM

Hard-nosed Olympique Lyonnais defender Kadeisha Buchanan, who won her fourth Champions League title in 2020 and helped Canada qualify for the Olympics, has been named Canadian Women’s Soccer Player of the Year for a third time.

Like Bayern Munich star Alphonso Davies, voted Canada’s top men’s player on Thursday, the 25-year-old from Brampton, Ont., lifted the Champions League trophy this year. But while it was a first for the 20-year-old Davies, Buchanan is a four-time winner of the European club competition with French powerhouse Lyon.

Buchanan finished ahead of Canada captain Christine Sinclair in voting by Canadian coaches and media. Manchester City’s Janine Beckie and Paris Saint-Germain’s Ashley Lawrence and Jordyn Huitema completed the top five in voting.

Sinclair also had a memorable year.

The 37-year-old from Burnaby, B.C., moved atop soccer’s all-time goal-scoring list — for both men and women — on Jan. 29 at the CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Edinburg, Texas.

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Sinclair, a 14-time winner of the Canadian Player of the Year award, notched goals No. 184, 185 and 186 at the tournament to pass retired American Abby Wambach.

While Sinclair is a soccer legend, one can argue that Buchanan is Canada’s most decorated soccer player, among men and women.

She has won the women’s European club crown and French league title all four years since making her pro debut in 2017. She has also won the French Cup three times. A winner of the Canadian Player of the Year Award in 2015 and 2017, Buchanan’s trophy case also includes an Olympic bronze medal (Rio 2016) and three CONCACAF silver medals.

At the 2015 World Cup, she won the Hyundai Young Player Award and was chosen to the tournament all-star team.

Buchanan has remarkably lost just four competitive club matches since joining Lyon from West Virginia University in January 2017. An athletic, physical defender who is good in the air, Buchanan has been paired with French star Wendie Renard at the heart of the Lyon defence.

Buchanan featured in 17 games for Lyon this year, scored three goals and was a major part of the team’s 20-match unbeaten streak across all league, cup and UEFA competitions from Jan. 12 to Nov. 13.

Lyon had gone an amazing 73 matches without defeat prior to a 1-0 loss at Paris Saint-Germain last month. PSG was the last team to beat Lyon in any competition, 1-0 in the French Cup final in May 2018.

The streak was even longer — 80 matches — stretching back to December 2016 in French league play.

Buchanan played in all seven of Lyon’s Champions League matches in 2019-20. And she played every minute at centre back in August when Lyon dispatched Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals, Paris Saint-Germain in the semifinals, and VfL Wolfsburg in the championship game in San Sebastian, Spain.

Buchanan helped blunt Wolfsburg’s Ewa Pajor and Pernille Harder, the Bundesliga’s back-to-back scoring leaders, in a 3-1 win as Lyon completed a 2019-20 treble.

Buchanan was 14 when she made her debut in the Canadian youth program in 2010 and 17 when she made her senior debut in January 2013.

She featured in six internationals with Canada from January through March this year before the pandemic hit. She was named Canada’s player of the match against the U.S. in the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Championship final, which also marked her milestone 100th international.

Her cap total now stands at 101, including 96 starts.

Buchanan was named to the CONCACAF tournament’s Best XI. She was also a year-end nominee for the UEFA Team of the Year.

The Canadian Player of the Year award is presented by Allstate.

Past winners of the Canadian Players of the Year Award

2020: Kadeisha Buchanan and Alphonso Davies

2019: Ashley Lawrence and Jonathan David

2018: Christine Sinclair and Alphonso Davies

2017: Kadeisha Buchanan and Atiba Hutchinson

2016: Christine Sinclair and Atiba Hutchinson

2015: Kadeisha Buchanan and Atiba Hutchinson

2014: Christine Sinclair and Atiba Hutchinson

2013: Christine Sinclair and Will Johnson

2012: Christine Sinclair and Atiba Hutchinson

2011: Christine Sinclair and Dwayne De Rosario

2010: Christine Sinclair and Atiba Hutchinson

2009: Christine Sinclair and Simeon Jackson

2008: Christine Sinclair and Julian de Guzman

2007: Christine Sinclair and Dwayne De Rosario

2006: Christine Sinclair and Dwayne De Rosario

2005: Christine Sinclair and Dwayne De Rosario

2004: Christine Sinclair and Paul Stalteri

2003: Charmaine Hooper and Pat Onstad

2002: Charmaine Hooper and Jason deVos

2001: Andrea Neil and Paul Stalteri

2000: Christine Sinclair and Craig Forrest

1999: Geraldine Donnelly and Jim Brennan

1998: Silvana Burtini and Tomasz Radzinski

1997: Janine Helland and Mark Watson

1996: Geraldine Donnelly and Paul Peschisolido

1995: Charmaine Hooper and Alex Bunbury

1994: Charmaine Hooper and Craig Forrest

1993: Alex Bunbury

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 4, 2020

Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press