Move over, Ryan Reynolds: Canadian soccer whistleblower now co-owner, CEO of Irish football club

It's a real-life story with shades of Ted Lasso and a plot line torn straight from Welcome to Wrexham, minus the hefty star power of Ryan Reynolds.

That's not to say Vancouver native Ciara McCormack, new owner and CEO of Irish football club Treaty United, isn't famous.

McCormack was thrust into the spotlight four years ago for blowing the whistle on former Canadian National Team and Vancouver Whitecaps women's soccer coach Bob Birarda, who was last year sentenced tojailafter pleading guilty to sexual abuse involving players.

McCormack's purchase of the Limerick-based club was done in partnership withTricorPacific Capital, a Vancouver investment firm.

The deal was announced last week and makes her the first female co-owner and CEO of amen's and women's club in the League of Ireland.

Watch| CiaraMcCormack andChuckCosman talk about Ted Lasso/Welcome to Wrexham comparisons:

A Canadian soccer whistleblower and a B.C. investment company have teamed up to buy an Irish football club

11 months ago

Duration 1:52

Vancouverites Ciara McCormack and Tricor Pacific principal Chuck Cosman compare their acquisition of Limerick-based Treaty United FC to Ted Lasso and Welcome to Wrexham.

"The motivation is to really make this something special with Treaty, andhopefullyshow people that a woman in charge is possible,"said McCormack. "When sport and soccer is done right, it's positive,impactfuland life-changing."

Buying a sports team,let alone one in Ireland,was never a goal of TricorPacific, according to company principal ChuckCosman.

'Dream of Irish football'

But when McCormack brought forward the idea "selling them on the dream of Irish football," as she put itthey were intrigued.

"If you look on our website there's nothing that says we're investing in sports businesses. This was justan opportunity that presented itself," said Cosman, Tricor'snew representative on the Treaty United board of directors.

"After talking with the league and with Ciara andadvisors in our network that have done these types of things before, it just seemed like a wonderful opportunity todo something fun, but alsosomething that we thought could really have a long-term, positive impact on a community."

Cosman said his company is in it for the long haul and expects an eventual return on investment. Much of the work facing McCormack is professionalizingwhat has been a predominantly volunteer-run organization.

Treaty Unitedruns a premier division women's team anda first division men's teamthat play out of the 4,500-seat Markets Field stadium. There are also a handful of age group academy teams for girls and boys.

The club is semi-professionalmost of the top team players haveday jobs and is governed by a volunteer board of directors.

Neither McCormack nor Cosman will disclose how much they invested in Treaty United.

Whether a fair comparison, Reynolds and partner-actor Rob McElhenneypaid2 million about $3.3 million Canadian at today's ratesto acquire downtrodden Welsh association football clubWrexhamin 2021, a takeover chronicled in the ongoing docu-series.

Unlike the Wrexham story,McCormack, 44, has deep roots underpinning the venture. Both parents are from Ireland, andMcCormack herself played internationally for the Republic of Ireland from 2008 to 2010.

In January of this year she joined the Treaty United women's team as a player, giving her an inside look at the operation. She also took time out to fly back to Ottawa twice to revisit past traumas bytestifying about alleged cover-ups in the Birarda case in front oftwo parliamentary committees investigating abuse in the Canadian sport system.

"After leaving Canada, with all the stuff that happened,it felt like [Irish soccer] rescued me," she said.

"In terms of the lens that I lookat the sporting world through, it's really about taking something that was super negative and having this tremendous opportunity to take all those lessons and apply them in a really positive way."

McCormack brings to top job at Treaty Uniteda degree fromYale University, a masters insports management from the University of Connecticut and experience running TOPP Soccer, a company that helps soccer players land placements at Canadian and U.S. universities and colleges.

"Running a soccer club in Europe, it was always just this wild dream," she said.

"I'm still pinching myself that this is my job. It's pretty cool."