Alix Bruch is a dynamic leader in women’s football and sports development, currently serving as Sporting Director at Calgary Wild FC, where she has put together the new “Wild FC” team in the newly founded Canadian professional league. Her journey through sport has been anything but linear—starting out as a professional footballer with ZFK Spartak, where she competed on some of Europe’s biggest stages, including the UEFA Women’s Champions League.
Alix brings a rare blend of on-field experience and off-field expertise. After her playing career, she pivoted into roles that combined her passion for sport, leadership, and communication. She founded Shift Athlete Services, supporting athletes as a certified football agent and advocate, and held leadership roles with organizations like Classroom Champions and the MacEachen Institute for Public Policy and Governance. Her impact spans mentorship, athlete development, and strategic communications.
Academically, Alix holds a BSc in Geology from St. Francis Xavier University, where she was recognized as an Academic All-Canadian. She later earned a Journalism degree with distinction from the University of King’s College, receiving the Governor General’s Silver Medal for academic excellence. Currently, she’s continuing her education with a Mini MBA in Sporting Directorship through FOCUS Sports Education, reinforcing her leadership in high-performance environments.
Our Exclusive Interview with Alix Bruch
You transitioned from being a professional footballer to an agent to a Sporting Director — what motivated that shift, and how did you experience the adjustment?
I stepped away from playing professionally primarily due to health concerns. I didn’t get answers right way, but I was eventually diagnosed with endometriosis, which is a very painful inflammatory disease, and that made it difficult for me to be living abroad without access to proper healthcare. It took me a while to find my footing in sport again; it was a difficult transition out of playing and it took a lot of trial and error to get to where I am now. I knew I wanted to stay involved in sport, but I wasn’t sure where I wanted to land. It was actually during the COVID-19 pandemic that I decided to become a football agent. I had just finished a second degree and was working remotely full-time and, on the side, I started my own women’s specific agency, dedicated to helping Canadian’s land professional contracts abroad. With no domestic professional league as well as a lack of Canadian agents, it was very difficult for players to take the next step and so I felt that I had a unique skillset and collection of experiences to be able to make a meaningful impact. Fast forward four years and I have now transitioned into the role of sporting director, which was a logical next step and one that I am very excited about.
Which aspects of your playing career most influence your decisions now as Sporting Director at Calgary Wild FC?
I am especially attuned to the player care and experience component of the club. As a franchise, we have been clear from the beginning that we want to be the player’s choice club. We want to create an environment that allows players to develop and be challenged in a supportive and safe space. Our reputation will inevitably have an impact on our future recruitment, and so it was really important to us that we get the culture right in our first year. When I look back at my time as a player, my fondest memories are from the teams that had exceptional team culture. Most players, particularly women, will look back at their career and remember the people they played with more than the wins and losses, so I think that is certainly something to keep in mind as we build the club.
How do you go about building a sustainable team culture, especially within the constraints of a brand-new league?
This is a big one. Building a sustainable and positive team culture certainly comes with many challenges as we needed to recruit an entire roster from scratch. It is really difficult to know how players will adjust and mesh together without ever actually seeing them in the environment, and so character and values were a massive pillar in our recruitment strategy. We wanted to bring in talented and experienced players who were going to raise our standards and challenge us as a club to be the best on and off the field, while also ensuring they have an understanding of what it means to be part of building a club from the ground up. My conversations with prospective players were always fairly long and were a chance to get to know each other and level-set on value alignment. Our head coach, Lydia Bedford, has also been integral in setting standards and shaping the culture, pulling from her significant experience in the Premier League, WSL, Championship, and English youth national teams. All of this combined has put us on stable footing through pre-season, and now the work begins to maintain that culture through the highs and lows of a regular season.
What do you look for when scouting players for Calgary Wild FC — what qualities really stand out to you?
I believe a group of great people can accomplish great things together. This is why character is such a big part of our recruitment strategy and we are really pleased with the players we have brought into the club. From a technical perspective, we look for players who can play. We want to be in possession and be really comfortable playing out of the back and out of pressure. This means we look for players who are technically sound and confident on the ball, and who have a strong tactical understanding of the game to be able to make quick decisions under pressure. In addition, particularly in our first season, we looked for adaptability, both positionally and tactically. We play the other five teams in the league five times each, so it is important we are able to be flexible and adaptable in how we play both from offensive and defensive standpoints.
You’ve broken ground in a male-dominated field — how have your experiences shaped your views on gender equity in football?
I have always been keenly interested in gender equity in sport, particularly how the intersectionality of race, sexuality, gender, and (dis)ability impacts participation. Prior to becoming an agent, I had gone back to school to do a journalism degree, and much of my focus was writing about these issues. Studying and practicing journalism gave me a front row seat to how policy gets made and how systems work. Combining that with my personal experiences in football has given me a strong foundation to identify barriers and injustices in the game, and I try to take that with me into any role I take on. I am of an age and generation where I have seen how far football has come, while also seeing how far we have to go, and I hope to be part of progress and removing barriers to people being able to enjoy the game.
How important is community integration and local talent to your club’s identity and long-term goals?
Community is a massive part of the Wild FC. From the ways we’ve raised capital, to the ways we’ve recruited, to how we’ve connected with local organizations and our fans, community has been at the heart of building this club. We have a unique opportunity as the first women’s professional sports team in our city to reach people that otherwise wouldn’t attend a sporting event. We don’t need to follow a playbook based on men’s sports and what already exists in the city, and that is really exciting to me.
From a sporting perspective, players from Calgary (and the wider province of Alberta) have historically been underrepresented in the Canadian national team. We already know that great players are produced here in Alberta, including the six local players we have on our roster, and so we are committed to building out an academy program and true pathway to the first team in order to develop more players locally and eventually integrate them into the first team and be the starting point of their career.
Looking back at your many roles in football, which one has been the most challenging for you, and why?
I think every job comes with its unique challenges, but if I had to choose, I would say being an agent. It was difficult for a few reasons, the primary one being I was doing it on my own. One of the reasons I fell in love with soccer was being part of a team, because doing hard things with 20+ people by your side is a lot more enjoyable than doing it on your own. I love being in a club role because I get to be a part of a team again.