By any standard—statistical, emotional, historical—Christine Sinclair wasn’t just the right choice to be the first member of the Portland Thorns Hall of Fame. She was the only choice.
It’s hard to overstate what Sinclair has meant to this club, to Portland, and women’s soccer as a whole. From the moment the Thorns took the field in 2013, she was there—wearing the captain’s armband, setting the tone, and lifting the standard. She didn’t just lead with goals, of which there were plenty (she’s the club’s all-time leading scorer), but with consistency, resilience, and quiet authority. There’s a reason she led the Thorns to three NWSL championships, two Shields, and a Challenge Cup. There’s a reason her name became synonymous with Portland soccer.
She wasn’t chasing attention. She was chasing excellence.
Come October 4, when Sinclair is officially inducted into the club’s newly created Hall of Fame at Providence Park, she won’t just be celebrated for her on-field brilliance. She’ll be honored for being the foundation of the franchise. She shaped what it meant to be a Thorn. She bridged the team’s earliest days to its most recent titles, providing the kind of steady leadership that every great team needs but few ever truly have.
Sinclair played the long game in every sense. She logged more minutes, starts, and appearances than anyone in Thorns history. She never left. Even as international accolades piled up (190 goals for Canada in 331 appearances, Olympic gold, inductions into Canada’s Soccer and Sports Halls of Fame), she stayed rooted in Portland. She built a legacy here that transcends sports. For 12 years, she was not just a world-class athlete—she was ours.
And for the city of Portland, that matters.
She represented the city with humility and grace, striking a balance between global stardom and fierce local loyalty. She didn’t just win games—she helped turn a women’s club into a worldwide standard-bearer for fan culture, success, and sustainability.
There will be other inductees in the future. Names like Becky Sauerbrunn, Adrianna Franch, and Tobin Heath will eventually join her. But Sinclair’s name belongs at the top of the list. This Hall of Fame couldn’t begin with anyone else. It had to start with the player who gave this club its identity, its first goals, its first championships—and most importantly, its heart.
The Hall of Fame is meant to honor greatness. But with Sinclair, it does something more: it tells the story of how Portland became a soccer city—and how one woman led the way.
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