U20 WWC Stars: Why you should be paying attention to Canadian teenager Kaylee Hunter

AFC Toronto has played 19 games so far this season and 18-year-old forward Kaylee Hunter has started in 18 of them. The game she missed? She couldn’t make it because she was busy competing at the U20 Women’s World Cup. How did a teenager become such a crucial part of the third-place team in the Northern Super League?

An early passion for the sport

Hunter grew up in Calgary, Canada and first started playing football because she was following in her older brothers’ footsteps. That doesn’t mean that she didn’t choose the sport. When her mother asked her at the end of each season whether she’d like to keep playing, her answer was always a resounding yes.

Her still-growing legacy in the sport also started early. Below the top tier of women’s football in Canada, the Northern Super League, sit five professional-amateur leagues. Hunter was the first ever goalscorer in the history of her home province’s league when they began playing in 2023, at only 15 years of age.

It didn’t hurt that she was always the best player on her team growing up. She quickly realized that her talent could turn into a career. This idea started to become a reality when in 2023, the Vancouver Whitecaps FC Girls Elite, a club that was competing in the inaugural edition of the CONCACAF W Champions Cup the next year, reached out to her to join their club. 

With the Whitecaps, she won the provincial league title and was named the MVP of the 2024 Women’s Inter-Provincial Championship, a national competition. At the age of only 16, she got the opportunity to play against some of the top clubs and top players on the continent, including her childhood idol Christine Sinclair. 

Going professional at 17

Her dream became reality sooner than it does for most. Just days after her 17th birthday, Hunter signed a contract with AFC Toronto of the Northern Super League. She played a crucial role in her team’s campaign in the inaugural NSL season, scoring the first goal in club history. She went on to score 16 goals and assist four more that season to help her team clinch the very first league title. At the end of the 2025 season, she won the Rookie of the Year Award, and she even won the league’s inaugural Player of the Month honor out of all players in the league.

This year, her role is even bigger, as she’s started every match she’s been available for. She’s still been just as crucial of a player, leading the team with her 9 goals so far. She’s third overall in the league on goals scored, but leads all players in shots and shots on target. At only 18 years old, she has more than established herself as one of the strongest players in the league.

International aspirations

Kaylee Hunter’s first international experience came in 2023, when she was named to the Canadian U17 roster for CONCACAF Women’s U17 Championship qualifiers. In the qualifiers, she scored four goals in a single match, and in the tournament itself she bagged a hat trick.

Six months later, she graduated to the U20 national team at only 16 years of age. She scored against the United States U20 squad, and then scored five goals in one match a year later. In 2025, she went on to win the CONCACAF Women’s U20 Championship with Canada, giving her home country the chance to enjoy this trophy for the first time since 2008. 

Dreaming about the Blues

She got her first call up to the senior national team in October 2025 for a pair of friendlies. Although she didn’t get any playing time in that window, she didn’t have to wait long for her senior debut. Hunter got her first minutes as a senior national team player when she earned a start on March 7th, 2026 against Argentina.

Kaylee Hunter has always dreamed of playing for the Canadian senior national team, and that dream came true earlier this year. She also dreams of playing in Europe professionally, hopefully at her favorite club Chelsea. At the rate she’s going, it won’t surprise anyone if that second dream also comes true.