For a brief moment, it seemed as though Stephanie Labbé had shattered through the glass ceiling of professional soccer in Canada. But soon after the country’s top ranked female player qualified for a North American men’s team, she was told she wouldn’t be able to play – because of her gender.

“It has nothing to do with my ability, the fact that I have proven myself or that a coach has seen me train and believes I can compete in this league,” said the goalkeeper. “It’s some other guys who are just basing it on my gender and that’s it.”

Labbé on the field in 2015. Photograph: Icon Sports Wire/Corbis via Getty Images

Since February, the 31-year-old Olympic bronze medallist has been trying out for the Calgary Foothills Soccer Club. The team is part of the Premier Development League, a feeder league in North America.

After parting ways with the Washington Spirit soccer club, she had been looking for new ways to keep developing her game. A men’s team seemed like the best way to build on the six years she had spent playing in Europe, given that Canada does not have a women’s professional football league.

“I knew that the level of play here is strong. I knew it would challenge me on a daily basis,” she told the Guardian.

She had watched other top Canadian athletes blaze a similar trail; the Olympic medallists Hayley Wickenheiser and Shannon Szabados had each played in professional men’s hockey leagues, in Europe and the United States, respectively.

When she pitched the idea to clubs, several were resistant. But eventually she connected with the Calgary Foothills club, where a technical director said he would take her on as long as she could prove herself during tryouts.

“So that’s exactly what I did,” said Labbé. “And now the league has come back to us and said no. You’re a female and this is a male league.”

She described the response as shocking and disappointing. “I just assumed that we were a little more forward-thinking than that. And that we wouldn’t be making these decisions based on gender,” she said.

Several of the country’s top athletes soon weighed in, rebuking the league for its position.

The Premier Development League did not reply to multiple requests for comment from the Guardian. But it has previously defended its stance. “Like virtually all of our peer leagues around the world, the PDL has gender-based eligibility requirements, which we applied consistently in this case,” the league said in a statement to the Canadian Press.

The league said it applauded all that female soccer players had done to push the sport forward in North America. “Stephanie Labbé, in particular, has had tremendous success, and we wish her the best as she continues to pursue her career goals.”

Calgary’s Foothills Soccer Club said it still considered Labbé part of the team but the league’s short season precluded an appeal of the decision. “The club is looking into ways around this to support Steph staying,” Tommy Wheeldon Jr, the club’s technical director, said in a statement. “Based on Steph’s ability, she has shown she can play with us.

Labbé said she was planning to file a formal challenge of the eligibility requirements ahead of the league’s annual general meeting in December. She continues to train with the team and is hoping to join a European team in the coming months.

Despite the uncertainty now looming over her career, she said she had no regrets about her attempt to join the men’s league. “It was the best possible opportunity to put myself in an environment that’s going to challenge me every day and help me grow, not only as a soccer player but as a person,” she said.

She said she had been humbled by the outpouring of support – from team-mates, other Olympians and fans across North America – she had received in the wake of the decision.

“I hope it creates change,” she added. “I hope that this is inspiring young girls and showing them that we’re not going to stand for this kind of treatment, we’re not going to stand for a female not being able to compete somewhere because she’s a girl.”