Canada's Olivia Smith is carted off the pitch following an injury during a women's international friendly soccer match between Switzerland and Canada, Friday, Oct. 24, 2025, in Lucerne, Switzerland. (Philipp Schmidli/Keystone via AP)

By The Canadian Press

Star forward Olivia Smith leaves Canada camp, returns to Arsenal to treat hip pointer

Oct 26, 2025 | 8:09 AM

Canadian star forward Olivia Smith, injured in a 1-0 loss to Switzerland on Friday, has returned to her club team in England for treatment for a hip pointer.

Canada Soccer said the 21-year-old from Whitby, Ont., will “focus on her recovery” at London’s Arsenal.

Teenage forward Kaylee Hunter has also left the national team. The 17-year-old from Calgary did not take part in the Swiss game in Lucerne because of an injury suffered before arriving in camp.

Hunter has returned to AFC Toronto to continue her rehabilitation.

The ninth-ranked Canadian women look to bounce back from the loss to 24th-ranked Swiss when they face the 11th-ranked Netherlands on Tuesday in Nijmegen. They close out 2025 with a pair of games against No. 8 Japan during the November FIFA window.

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Smith was hurt in her first start for Canada since joining Arsenal from Liverpool in July for a then-world-record transfer fee of one million pounds ($1.87 million).

Smith was injured in a heavy fall in the 32nd minute, bodied to the ground by Swiss defender Viola Calligaris as they challenged for the ball. Smith spent some five minutes on the turf receiving medical attention before being taken off the field in a golf cart.

A distraught Smith did not put weight on her right leg as she was lifted to her feet and helped to the cart.

“From where I stood, it was definitely a foul,” Canada coach Casey Stoney said after the match. “And also from where I stood for 90 minutes, we didn’t feel like we got an awful lot of decisions.”

Smith had received physical treatment from the Swiss from the opening kickoff.

Asked if opponents were targeting the five-foot-four Smith, Stoney replied: “I really hope not.”

In June, Smith exited Canada’s friendly against Haiti on a stretcher 13 minutes into the game in Montreal after taking a ball to the head.

“Obviously she came out of the Haiti game early and now she’s come out of this game early” said Stoney. “So we’ve hardly been able to play her this year and she’s one of our most talented players so it’s disappointing.”

Named Canada Youth Player of the year in 2019 and 2024, Smith has three goals and three assists in 19 senior appearances for Canada.

Hunter’s first call-up to the senior national team came after AFC Toronto refused to release her for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup, currently underway in Morocco. While clubs have to release players for the full national team during international windows, FIFA does not require them to do so for youth championship

Hunter, who has 14 goals and three assists this season in the Northern Super League, has been a scoring sensation at youth level since making her international debut at 15.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 26, 2025

Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press