Canada men's national soccer team

The Canada men's national soccer team (French: Équipe du Canada de soccer masculin) represents Canada in men's international soccer, which is governed by the Canadian Soccer Association (French: Association canadienne de soccer), the governing body for soccer in Canada founded in 1912. It has been an affiliate member of FIFA since 1912 and a founding affiliate member of CONCACAF since 1961. Regionally, it is an affiliate member of NAFU in the North American Zone.

Canada has qualified for the FIFA World Cup three times (1986, 2022 and 2026). In 2026, Canada will host the World Cup for the first time. It has qualified for the FIFA Confederations Cup once (2001).

Canada has participated twenty times in CONCACAF's premier continental competition, winning the CONCACAF Championship in 1985 and the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2000. It also finished as runners-up in the CONCACAF Nations League in the 2023 finals. It participated once in the Copa América, finishing in fourth place in 2024.

Regionally, the team won the North American Nations Cup as hosts in 1990.

History

Early years

Soccer was being played in Canada with the Dominion Football Association (1877) and Western Football Association (1880) acting as precursors to the modern-day Canadian Soccer Association. In 1885, the WFA sent a team to New Jersey to take on a side put forth by the American Football Association, the then-unofficial governing body of the sport in the United States. On November 28, 1885, in an unofficial friendly, Canada defeated the United States 1–0 at Clark Field in the East Newark neighborhood of Kearny, New Jersey. The American team won 3–2 in a return match one year later. In 1888, a team represented the WFA in a tour of the British Isles, earning a record of nine wins, five draws, and nine losses. The squad comprised 16 Canadian-born players with the only exception being tour organizer David Forsyth, who had immigrated to Canada one year after his birth.

In 1904 Galt F.C. represented the WFA at the Olympic Games in St. Louis, Missouri. As just one of three teams competing, Galt defeated two American clubs, Christian Brothers College (7–0) and St. Rose (4–0) to win the tournament. The Toronto Mail and Empire of November 18, 1904, reports that "Immediately after the game, the Galt aggregation, numbering about 50 persons, retired to the office of James W. Sullivan, chief of the Department of Physical Culture, where they received their prize. After a short talk by Mr. James E. Conlon of the Physical Culture Department, Mayor Mundy, of the City of Galt, presented each player on the winning team with a beautiful gold medal." The medals are clearly engraved with the name of the company in St. Louis that made them.

In 1905, a British team of touring amateurs nicknamed the "Pilgrims" toured Canada, with their match against Galt billed as the "championship of the world". The match was played in front of 3500 fans in Galt, now part of Cambridge, Ontario, and ended in a 3–3 draw. Earlier the Pilgrims had been beaten 2–1 by Berlin Rangers, in the city now known as Kitchener.

The Canadian national team toured Australia in 1924, playing a series of "test" friendlies against their hosts, including their first official match, a 3–2 friendly defeat to the Australian national team in Brisbane, Queensland on June 7, 1924. Canada also played Australia at the Jubilee Oval, Adelaide on Saturday July 12, 1924, and defeated them by 4 goals to 1. In 1925, Canada played their old rivals, the United States, in Montreal, winning 1–0 on Ed McLaine's goal. In a return match in November 1925 in Brooklyn, New York, Canada was defeated 1–6. One year later, Canada lost 2–6 to the Americans in the same city before playing four internationals in a 1927 tour of New Zealand.

The New Zealand tour included a total of 22 games, of which Canada won 19 with only 2 defeats. Most of the games were against local combined teams although Canada also played New Zealand in four occasions (scores: 2–2, 2–1, 0–1, 4–1).

1928 to 1987

Following the lead of British soccer associations, Canada withdrew from FIFA in 1928 over a dispute regarding broken time payments to amateur players. They rejoined the confederation in 1946 and took part in World Cup qualifying in the North American Football Confederation (NAFC) (a precursor to CONCACAF) for the first time in 1957, the first time they had played as a national team in 30 years. Under the guidance of head coach Don Petrie, Canada defeated the United States in Toronto 5–1 in their opening game, but lost two games in Mexico (failing to play a home game due to financial reasons) 0–2 and 0–3 before defeating the U.S. 3–2 in St. Louis. Mexico advanced as group winners, meaning that Canada missed out on the World Cup in Sweden.

Canada withdrew from World Cup qualifying for 1962 and did not enter a team for 1966. They did compete in soccer however at the 1967 Pan American Games, their first time to do so in the sixth edition of the games, which they hosted in Winnipeg. Canada finished fourth place, helped somewhat by defending champion Brazil's absence.

A 0–0 draw away to Bermuda meant the Canadians, under coach Peter Dinsdale, could not advance out of the first round of qualifying for the 1970 World Cup. Dinsdale was replaced by Frank Pike. In their second participation in soccer at the Pan Am games, held in Cali, Canada finished second in their opening round group (to hosts Colombia). In the final group round however, they managed only one win (over Colombia) and finished next to last.

Canada again failed at the first hurdle in qualifying for the 1974 FIFA World Cup. Under German head coach Eckhard Krautzun, they finished second in a home and away qualifying group for the 1973 CONCACAF Championship (to Mexico). For the 1975 Pan Am Games, Canada, along with most of the larger Pan Am countries, sent their Olympic team, which was amateur (and senior aged), to compete. After narrowly qualifying out of the first round, the Canucks were soundly defeated by Costa Rica, Cuba, and Mexico, conceding a total of 14 goals while scoring none. At the Summer Olympics at home the following year, under head coach Colin Morris, the amateur Canadian side failed to get out of the first round, losing both of their games. This despite the brilliant play of Jimmy Douglas, who scored a goal against a Dynamo Kyiv-dominated Soviet Union side and another goal against North Korea, Canada's only two goals in the tournament.

In their North American qualifying group for the 1977 CONCACAF Championship, with both group winners and runners-up now advancing, Canada, again under head coach Krautzun, qualified as runners-up after defeating the Americans 3–0 in a neutral site one-match play-off, played in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. In the championship, played in Monterrey and Mexico City, Mexico won all five of their matches with a +15 goal difference to win the tournament handily. Canada finished fourth.

Matters were different however at the next CONCACAF championship, in 1981, played in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Canada entered the tournament raising eyebrows by winning their qualifying group over Mexico and the United States, even achieving a 1–1 draw against Mexico at the Azteca Stadium with Gerry Gray scoring from a direct free kick in the 88th-minute. In the final round, the Canadians opened strongly with a 1–0 win over El Salvador, with Mike Stojanovic the goal-scorer, and a 1–1 draw with Haiti, with Stojanovic scoring again. They next lost to the hosts Honduras 1–2 and then drew Mexico 1–1 with Ian Bridge scoring the equalizer via a corner kick. A win in their final game against Cuba would have put them through to Spain, but they were held to a 2–2 draw, allowing El Salvador to qualify as tournament runners-up.

Between 1981 and 1985, Canada continued to develop under the guidance of English coach Tony Waiters. After a strong performance at the 1984 Summer Olympics, Waiters would see the Maple Leafs through to their first World Cup finals appearance in 1985. A 1–1 away draw to Guatemala was key in allowing them to eliminate Los Chapines in the first round group. The second round was also closely contested, in part as this Canadian squad was strong defensively but had limited ability to score goals. The Canucks managed to eke out a 1–0 away win over Honduras, thanks to a George Pakos winner, hold Costa Rica scoreless in San José, and then in their final game, one they needed to draw to qualify, beat Los Catrachos a second time, 2–1 in St. John's, Newfoundland, with Pakos and Igor Vrablic the goal scorers. The victory not only secured their first World Cup finals berth, but also the crown of CONCACAF champions for the first time, although Mexico did not compete, having already qualified automatically for the World Cup as hosts.

At the 1986 FIFA World Cup, Canada impressed defensively in their first game against France, only conceding a late Jean-Pierre Papin goal after Papin had missed several earlier chances. However, Canada could not build on their stubborn performance against France, losing their next two matches to both Hungary and the Soviet Union 0–2, finishing the group stage in last place with zero points.

Four Canadian players (Chris Chueden, Hector Marinaro, David Norman and Vrablic) were involved in a match fixing betting scandal at the Merlion Cup tournament in Singapore two months after the World Cup. The four players were suspended by the Canadian Soccer Association for "bringing the game into disrepute". Norman was reinstated in 1992 after admitting his involvement in the scandal. Vrablic never played for Canada again.