Owen Hargreaves may be Canada's ultimate sports enigma.

The 20-year-old soccer star from Calgary has become one of the country's most controversial sports figures, but he remains a mystery to most Canadians.

Hargreaves, whose father was born in England and mother was born in Wales, recently garnered headlines for his decision to play for the English national team rather than the Canadian squad. It's a decision that has been played out in both the media both in Canadian media and throughout soccer-crazy Europe. Once a player appears in a sanctioned international game, he is committed for life to that country.

So when the young midfielder, who play for German power Bayern Munich, made his choice, he became a symbol of sorts for Canada's soccer woes. While issues of his loyalty are debated, forgotten is the fact that he is one of Europe's brightest soccer stars. Canadian haven't had the opportunity to enjoy the home-grown star's abilities on the pitch as his games haven't previously been available. We may know his story, but most have never even seen him play.

That is going to change.

Fox Sports World Canada, a digital channel owned by Canwest Global in partnership with Fox Television, will debut on Sept. 7. The Canadian version will follow a similar format to the already existing U.S. network and the Spanish version available in South America. The channel will provide extensive coverage of international soccer, rugby and cricket.

The channel will benefit from the vast array of broadcast rights owned by Fox's owner, Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. In particular, it will draw heavily upon programming from Sky Sports, a Murdoch venture in Britain. Sky Sports News will be one of the network's signature programs, airing daily several times throughout the day and night.

The rugby lineup will feature live games from the Super 12, Six Nations, Tri-Nations and European Cup series. It will show championship rugby on tape.

The station plans to air at least 100 hours of cricket in its first year, including classic cricket matches.

The main draw, however, will be almost wall-to-wall soccer.

Soccer fans will now be able to rejoice over the ability to choose from an array of daily live games. Contests from the English Premiership, perhaps the world's most popular soccer league, will be shown every Sunday and Monday. Footie fans will also love a steady diet of games from the Scottish, Dutch, German, Argentine, Chilean and Mexican leagues throughout the week.

International sports fans in Canada have often had to find creative means to follow their favourite players and clubs - often scouring the Internet for results or relying on word-of-mouth as their only recourse. Soccer and rugby fans are known to retreat to their local pubs in the off-chance that a feed of their heros is being beamed in by satellite. North American television coverage is rare or non-existence except for sporadic coverage of top events.

Call it the Olympic syndrome, if you will. Many sports simply disappear from the attention of the general public in the four years between Olympics. The same is the case for sports such as soccer and rugby. Except for World Cup tournaments every four years, Canadians can rarely enjoy the world's best.

Legendary athletes, such German soccer star Mehmet Scholl or Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly, are appreciated throughout the world, but they've hardly become household names to most Canadian sports fans. The multicultural makeup of Canada starves for more than the traditional sports covered on mainstream television. There's a big void to be filled.

The broadcasts may originate on the other side of the world, but for the first time, Canadian sports fans will be able to revel regularly in the accomplishments of its own athletes. Without a top-flight domestic soccer league, home-grown stars must pursue stardom overseas. When they arrive home, they slip back into obscurity.

No longer will players, like Hargreaves, be a mystery.