Cowichan’s Emily Zurrer will be eligible for the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame in 2020. (Citizen file)

Cowichan’s Emily Zurrer will be eligible for the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame in 2020. (Citizen file)

Zurrer eligible for Hall of Fame in 2020

Cowichan product among Canada’s most decorated players

Emily Zurrer’s path to the Canada Soccer Hall of Fame has been set.

Earlier this month, Canada Soccer announced a list of players who will be eligible for the Hall of Fame in upcoming years, and the Cowichan Valley product was included among the nominees for the class of 2020.

To be eligible for the nomination list, a player must have been active for at least one season out of the past 15 years and retired from competitive football for at least five years. Players must have played 10 or more seasons of football at the professional and/or international level and participated in at least two cycles of FIFA World Cup Qualifiers with at least one official international “A” match played in each of those four-year cycles (FIFA World Cup, CONCACAF Gold Cup, Olympic Football Tournament), or have been inducted into a provincial sport or provincial soccer Hall of Fame.

Zurrer, who grew up in Crofton and played in the Cowichan Valley Soccer Association, won a CONCACAF championship with Canada in 2010 and an Olympic bronze medal in 2012, appearing in two Women’s World Cups and two Olympic tournaments. She made 82 international “A” appearances between 2004 and her retirement in 2015. She played for clubs in Canada, the U.S., Germany and Sweden, reaching the USL W-League final with the Vancouver Whitecaps in 2010. Zurrer also represented Canada at U20 World Cups in 2004 and 2006, and was tournament MVP at the CONCACAF youth championship in 2004.

Zurrer made her debut with the Canadian youth program as a 15-year-old in 2003, and first played for the senior national team a year later. In 2014, she became the 22nd player to appear in 75 matches for Canada.