What hosting the World Cup means for Canadian soccer: ‘The stakes are absolutely massive’

Canadian fans and visitors have flocked to Toronto and Vancouver for the World Cup Photograph: Leonardo Ramirez/Eyepix Group/Nexpher/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock Toronto’s Front Street, which loosely tethers the city’s central station and some of its landmarks to the part of the waterfront that hosts the fan fest and Toronto Stadium to the west, thrummed all week with a pleasant energy. Hours ahead of Croatia-Panama on Tuesday, there were scores of jerseys out for those countries, of course, but plenty for Brazil and Scotland and other sides as well. A Croatian fan scolded a street vendor hawking Blue Jays gear by the Rogers Center, where the baseball team were about to play, for not selling any Croatia merch. “Croatia!” he said gruffly. “Gonna win today!” Related: Alphonso Davies’ return brightens Canada’s landmark World Cup moment Across the street, the images of six women’s soccer players in Northern Super League uniforms were plastered on the headquarters of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. “Canada’s first professional women’s soccer league,” read the caption. Ah, yes, domestic soccer – that still exists, too, amid the fun and folklore of the World Cup. The contrast illuminated the stakes of this mega-event for Canada. While the United States and, to a lesser extent, Mexico, have hogged the headlines, Canada is the only first-time host in 2026. Mexico is on its third World Cup; the USA on its second. But for Canada, the potential upside is far higher. For it is hoped this World Cup gives soccer the kind of boost the US got in 1994, and that Mexico doesn’t really need anymore. “This World Cup is our coming out party,” said Tosaint Ricketts, a long-time Canada forward who now works for the Vancouver Whitecaps and was part of the hiring committee that installed Jesse Marsch as Canada manager. “The stakes are massive.” The Canadian Soccer Association is emerging from decades of dysfunction. And after the men’s team made it back to the World Cup in 2022, absent since their only other appearance in 1986, some tangible momentum is gathering – although it should be noted that the women’s team won three straight Olympic medals from 2012 through 2020 and won gold at the last of those. “There’s no secrets,” Ricketts said. “Over the years, we’ve gone through our fair bit of controversy, a little bit of lack of transparency, and changes within the organizational structure of Canada Soccer. But that is all behind us and now we’re steady on the path of growth, the path of creating a foundation.” With the sport on firmer footing, the World Cup promises an inflection point that can finally help soccer take off in a nation in the thrall of hockey and, like the neighbors to the south, possessed of a vibrant sporting landscape that is no monoculture. “I think the biggest opportunity is not just the five weeks hosting and participating in the tournament,” says James Johnson, commissioner of the Canadian Premier League, the country’s eight-team professional circuit currently in its eighth season (three other Canadian clubs play in MLS). “It’s really in the legacy that the tournament leaves behind, which can be transformation for soccer in this country.” Just as there once was in the US, a chasm gapes between the omnipresence of the sport and the elite end of the domestic game. “Of course, people know soccer is not number one in Canada, but I’m not sure people know that it’s the most participated-in sport,” said Ricketts. “There’s over a million participants across Canada. The next step is to get the corporations investing in the game, improve the infrastructure so these million participants have the facilities and resources to grow and get better. What the World Cup does is allow all of this progress to be sustainable.” The hope is that the sponsors attracted by the World Cup will want to stay involved in the sport a few weeks from now, when the party is over. “We want to bring investment in,” said Johnson. “We want to scale and we want to take advantage of the momentum the World Cup creates. We want to increase our marketing spend for the Canadian Premier League, to increase the playing time on the pitch and our clubs’ infrastructures to develop better players. It requires investment. For us, it is really commercializing the sport and bringing in revenue and partners. It’s positioning the sport in the mainstream and making sure when the World Cup comes and goes, people can still see soccer in Canada on billboards and on linear TV.” For all of that to happen, Canadian soccer could sure use the assistance of its men’s team. Having already recorded their first-ever World Cup point, win, and run to the knockout rounds, Sunday’s win over South Africa in the last 32 saw to it that Les Rouges will stay in the national discourse for six more days, when they face the winner of Netherlands v Morocco. “The legacy for a sport is very heavily influenced by the performance of the national team,” said Johnson. “The longer the host nation stays in the tournament, the deeper the connection new fans have with the sport.” “All this history is going to create a legacy and inspire the next generation,” echoed Ricketts. “Kids are going to talk about this for the next four years and beyond.” That’s what this World Cup ultimately offers: runway. For the Canadian Premier League and Northern Super League to clutch on to the tournament’s long tail. The trick is in creating associations between the buzz of Croatia and Panama coming to town and the experience at your local pro team. “How can we position the CPL as really the legacy story of the 2026 World Cup, just as Major League Soccer was the legacy story coming out of the 1994 World Cup?” asked Johnson. “It’s looking positive,” Ricketts added, considering the future of Canadian soccer. “It really feels like we have the foundation now … to really grow and take this game even further in Canada. We’ve been in it for a while, but it really feels like it’s just the beginning.” Leander Schaerlaeckens is the author of The Long Game: U.S. Men’s Soccer and Its Savage, Four-Decade Journey to the Top, or Thereabouts, which is out now . He teaches at Marist University.