One Year Out From the World Cup, Canada is Almost Ready to Welcome the World | OneFootball

Take a stroll past Vancouver’s Pacific National Exhibition or Toronto’s Fort York, and you wouldn’t fathom that the world is coming.

Yet, in precisely one year, both areas will be brimming with thousands of soccer supporters from around the world as Official FIFA Fan Festival sites, embracing the special energy that is set to come with the first 48-team FIFA World Cup.

The clock is ticking. Less than 365 days until the world arrives, with Vancouver and Toronto set to welcome the first men’s World Cup games on Canadian soil, in a co-hosting effort with the United States and Mexico.

While the tournament has previously set foot in North America, Canada gets its moment in 2026, and a chance to continue proving to the footballing world that it is a country to be taken seriously, both on and off the pitch.

On the pitch, the men’s national team has undergone a meteoric rise, qualifying for their first World Cup in 36 years in 2022, and since then, building an inspiring style of football that led them to the Copa América semifinals last year under head coach Jesse Marsch.

This summer, they have already beaten Ukraine and tied Côte d'Ivoire to win the inaugural Canadian Shield Invitational Tournament, and enter the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup as favorites, sitting at No. 30 in the world, their best-ever FIFA ranking.

Away from the field, soccer continues to thrive as the most played sport in the country, with organizations and investments in the game growing at all levels, from grassroots to the Canadian Premier League and the nation’s three MLS clubs.

Yet, there has never been a moment like the World Cup.

For many, it’s been the shining light at the end of the long tunnel in the build, which became official moments after a brace-faced Alphonso Davies addressed the FIFA Congress in Moscow, ahead of the 2018 World Cup.

“My family are from Liberia and fled the civil war. I was born in Ghana in a refugee camp. It was a hard life. When I was five years old, a country called Canada welcomed us. And the boys on the football team made me feel at home,” Davies beamed at just 17 years old.

“I’m a proud Canadian citizen and my dream is to someday compete in the World Cup, maybe in my hometown town Edmonton... the people in North America have always welcomed me. Given the opportunity, I know they’ll welcome you too.”

Alphonso Davies scored Canada's first-ever World Cup goal in 2022 after helping the North American bid in 2018. / Yukihito Taguchi-Imagn Images

Few could have expected the way things have gone for Canada’s men on the pitch since, with the rise under former head coach John Herdman, the emergence of top players, and the hopeful present under Marsch.

Over the next year, they have a chance to change the game forever in the country, a vision laid out not only by previous staff but by Marsch when he took the job in 2024.

To say the opportunity is formative would be an understatement.

“Our mission on the road to 2026 but also beyond is to make this the people’s team,” Marsch said, ahead of a September public training session in Montréal.

“The best part about it is when I went to the players and I said ‘hey, what if we go to Montréal and we go out in the community and we go to some training sessions and we go see some players?’ They were all so excited about the opportunity. And the first one to say ‘let’s do this’ was Alphonso Davies.”

World Cup a Special Opportunity for Canada’s Multiculturalism

Jonathan David is one of the many players in the Canadian men's national team not born in Canada. / Courtesy of Canada Soccer

On a sun-soaked Saturday this June, Canada may have gotten its first glimpse of what it means to be a World Cup host as well. Côte d’Ivoire fans packed sections of the stands at BMO Field, while the roars for the Ukrainian national team matched those of Les Rouges.

While those matches were part of the inaugural Canadian Shield, an international friendly tournament hosted in Toronto, they offered a window into the future. Not only for how many more fans from around the world will be there in a year, but also for the mosaic of cultures in one of the world’s most diverse countries.

It’s the same in Vancouver and across the U.S., where the true global power of the largest World Cup will be felt, even if the political situations make it a challenge for some fan bases looking to travel.

That feeling will be especially evident in Toronto, as one of the world’s most diverse cities, where it’s not an uncommon sight to see fans from every country packing local bars and community centers to support nations in tournaments throughout the year.

Canadians have a special relationship with their national team. While many will pull for the red and white, they often have a secondary homeland, a nation that in the past has been a stronger contender for support in the game, until the recent rise of North American soccer.

“Growing up, my gateway to international soccer was cheering for Portugal, my mother’s homeland,” Brendan Dunlop, longtime Canadian journalist and broadcaster, said to Sports Illustrated. “For years, it never seemed possible that the Seleção could ever play Canada. But when they came within one lottery ball of being drawn in the same 2022 World Cup group, I realized how badly I wanted the experience to cheer for my home country, Canada, against the team I’ve supported for three decades.

“Portugal was my team, but Canada is my country. I want to feel what it's like to have my heart in a tug of war for 90 minutes.”

A Diverse Canadian Identity on the Pitch

Canada captured the first-ever edition of the Canadian Shield invitational tournament / Courtesy of Canada Soccer

That’s no different for the players, many of whom come from diverse cultural backgrounds, all combining into one inspiring style to represent what has become a modern Canadian identity.

“In this country, we already speak French and English, and most of [the players] are first- and second-generation immigrants, coming from different cultures,” Marsch told TSN. “They speak different languages, eat different kinds of food and have a distinctly different experience from just being Canadian.”

“Being Canadian isn't just about living in Canada. It’s this idea of multiculturalism and in teams, what that can mean for the potential of athleticism, of the identity, of everything.”

At the same time, the World Cup is expected to further boost soccer participation across the country, where an estimated one million people were registered to play organized soccer in 2023, and over three million participated in the game recreationally, benefiting not only soccer development, but also building a further passion for the game at all levels.

That burgeoning passion for soccer, which has emerged in flashes, has led to the slow uptick of the seven-year-old Canadian Premier League and consistently strong crowds for MLS clubs over the last decade.

Now, with the World Cup, there’s hope that it can be a game-changer, and that soccer in Canada and across North America will finally enter the everyday lexicon of sports fandom.

Added Marsch: “I am very aware that I am a custodian of this team and program, and that the most important thing is that when I leave, it's that more Canadians have been educated from a player, coaching and administrative perspective, so that this only is going to look forward and continue the trajectory that it needs to go.”

Canada Wants to Turn Heads at the World Cup

Canada is looking to do more than just play at the World Cup next summer. / Courtesy of Canada Soccer

While the off-pitch aspects of the World Cup will bring an energy like never before to the game in Canada, the team on the pitch is hoping to work some magic of their own as well.

And so far, it’s going well. 24-year-old Jonathan David is one of the most sought-after strikers in the world after scoring 109 goals in 232 games over five seasons, while Ismael Koné, Derek Cornelius and Moïse Bombito all hold down regular roles as young players in Ligue 1.

That’s all in addition to Davies’s continued excellence at Bayern Munich, Tajon Buchanan’s positive return from injury, which saw him score against FC Barcelona for CF Villarreal on the final day of the La Liga season and the rise of 21-year-old Promise David with Royale Union Saint-Gilloise.

That core has already led Canada through challenging opponents and situations, and it has high expectations for the next 365 days and the World Cup. They want to be more than just a host, but create history by earning Canada’s first World Cup victory and advancing from the group.

Marsch and Canada Soccer CEO Kevin Blue have laid out a plan to maximize the squad's potential, creating artificial pressure through the Canadian Shield, which Canada won, and organizing games against teams from UEFA, CAF and CONMEBOL in the lead-up to 2026.

They have also continually convinced many of the top players to commit to camps, allowing the squad to gel on and off the pitch in a way few other teams in Concacaf have been able to do.

“The final destination, which is the World Cup, is as important as the journey,” midfielder Stephen Eustáquio said to the media after beating Ukraine—Canada’s first win over a UEFA side since 2011. “The games from now on are going to be very tough. We know we have strong opponents coming in the Gold Cup, and then we’re facing Romania and Wales in Europe.”

The vision has been clear for nearly 10 years with the Canadian men’s national team; they wanted to be a strong team at the 2026 World Cup in their backyard. Yet, few could have expected them to rise as they have, now a side with a prominent coach, leading a group of some of the world’s best players.

Now, a year out from the tournament, the Canadian team can honestly dream of a World Cup Cinderella run and a chance to represent Canada’s soccer prominence on the global stage in a way like never before.

“This has always been a confident group, but it's important to stay humble as well and understand that in order for us to be successful, we still have to put in the work each day, each training, each game,” defender Derek Cornelius added, reflecting on the Canadian Shield ahead of the Gold Cup.

“We need to get this country behind us... that’s another goal of ours, to really inspire a nation and inspire a nation to support us so by World cup time, there’s more red and white in the stadium.”

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