As a result of her record-setting season, Sinclair went on to win the Honda Sports Award as the nation's top soccer player,[26] as well as the Honda-Broderick Cup, as the college woman athlete of the year.

In 2000, Sinclair helped the Vancouver Angels finish in fourth place in the WPSL, although she missed the first few matches of the season while representing Canada at the 2000 Concacaf Gold Cup.

[36] As the regular season champion, FC Gold Pride earned a direct route to the championship playoff game where they faced the Philadelphia Independence.

[41] On January 11, 2013, it was announced that Sinclair would play for the Portland Thorns FC for the inaugural season of the National Women's Soccer League via the NWSL Player Allocation.

[17] She scored seven goals for Canada at the 2002 CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup, tying her for the tournament lead with Canadian team captain Charmaine Hooper and U.S. player Tiffeny Milbrett, a fellow Portland alumna.

[17][54] Canada's FIFA Women's World Cup squad for the 2003 edition in the United States was subsequently remembered for its mix of veteran players like Hooper and younger members like Sinclair, Diana Matheson, and Erin McLeod.

With goals from Sinclair and teammates Christine Latham and Kara Lang, Canada won 3–1 and placed second in their group to advance to the knockout stage.

[59] Canada faced defending silver medalists China in the quarterfinal match on October 2 in Portland, Oregon and won 1–0 with the lone goal scored by Hooper in the seventh minute.

"[73] The leadup to the 2011 World Cup was dogged by disputes with the Canadian Soccer Association over funding the compensation issues, which prompted coach Carolina Morace to announce that she would leave her post following the end of the tournament.

After defeating South Africa and drawing Sweden, Canada nevertheless advanced out of the group stage as the third seed, led by performances from Sinclair and Melissa Tancredi.

[88] Sinclair and others on the team, including coach Herdman, harshly criticized Pedersen's officiating after the match was completed, with the captain stating "we feel cheated.

"[101] After serving her suspension after the London Olympics, Sinclair returned to the pitch midway through the 2013 Cyprus Women's Cup, scoring the game-winning goal against Finland.

[102] She later made her 200th appearance on December 12, 2013, scoring her 147th international goal in a 2–0 win over Scotland at the 2013 Torneio Internacional Cidade de São Paulo.

[104][105] Sinclair scored Canada's only goal of the first group stage match against China, a 1–0 win, during a penalty kick awarded in the second minute of second-half stoppage time.

Sinclair played through a calf injury during the tournament, and only featured in the final game as a substitute in the second half, but still surpassed American Mia Hamm for second place on the international goal-scoring standings.

[109] A month later, Sinclair led Canada to victory at the 2016 edition of the Algarve Cup, the event she had made her senior debut at 16 years earlier.

[110] At the Olympic women's tournament, Canada swept its three group stage games, culminating in a historic win over Germany that broke a 12-game, 22-year losing streak.

[116][117] At the World Cup, hosted by France, Canada narrowly defeated Cameroon in its opening group stage match, albeit with a performance that was faulted by some commentators for difficulty in creating chances to score by players other than Sinclair.

Globe & Mail editor Phil King opined "when the history of women's sports is written in this country, Christine Sinclair deserves her own chapter.

With the game tied 0–0 in the second half, a penalty was drawn by Deanne Rose for Canada, and Sinclair delivered the ball to Fleming, a gesture that was taken to be an on-the-spot decision by many observers at the time.

[135][136] As Fleming was considered by many to be the team's best younger player, Sinclair later wrote that "some people interpreted me handing Jessie the ball as a passing of the torch.

Keeper Stephanie Labbé took that honour in the end, but Jessie Fleming and Ashley Laurence and Kadeisha Buchanan and Vanessa Gilles and Desiree Scott – who was once one of the kids and is now one of the greybeards – all had more influence on the play.

Sinclair had not played as large a role on-field as she had for most of her career, with Cathal Kelly of The Globe & Mail describing her as "first in our hearts and fourth or fifth on the depth chart.

[144] The Tokyo Olympics marked the beginning of a change in Sinclair's usage; the semi-final against the United States was the final international game in which she played a full 90 minutes.

[148][149] In addition to issues surrounding the lack of a professional league, Sinclair took the lead in conflicts with the federation over the women's national team's funding and compensation.

[153] Sinclair was named to the Canadian squad for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, her sixth edition of the tournament, and generally presumed to be her last.

[161] Following the disappointment in Australia, coach Priestman made significant alterations to the team's composition in advance of their next fixtures, the two-legged CONCACAF Olympic qualification playoff against Jamaica in September.

[163] She subsequently revealed that she "was going to walk off and not say a word and just be done" after the Olympic qualifiers, but following the federation scheduling four friendlies in Montreal, Halifax, Victoria and Vancouver, she was persuaded to play in what was widely described as a "farewell tour.

"[164] Sinclair played in her final international match on December 5, a 1–0 victory in a friendly versus Australia, held at BC Place in Vancouver.

Along with Portland Thorns FC teammates Alex Morgan and Steph Catley, Sinclair was one of the first women to appear on the cover of any EA Sports game.