Canada doesn't typically attract the focus of international football, but when it hosts its first World Cup match next year, global fans will encounter a country where the sport is thriving.
Kick-off in Canada's inaugural World Cup match is set for June 12, 2026 in Toronto, a city consistently listed as one of the world's most diverse, where immigration has propelled football's rise. Data ranks football - more commonly known in Canada as soccer - as the most popular sport among Canadian youth and, while the country retains its love for ice hockey, families increasingly struggle to take part in the cherished sport, often due to cost.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW! Majied Ali runs Toronto's Islamic Soccer League, which serves Muslim youth in Toronto's eastern Scarborough neighborhood, a historic immigrant landing spot. "I established this league in 1996 with 34 kids," said Ali, who immigrated to Canada from Trinidad in 1986. "We started with (a fee) of just $20 dollars a player," he told AFP, noting the current seasonal fee is a modest CAN$100 ($74).
Ali said the league now counts some 1,500 players, with a waitlist, growth he ties to waves of immigration among Muslim communities. He recalled the arrival of refugees from Somalia and Kosovo in the 1990s, followed by those who fled conflicts in Afghanistan and Syria. "Over the years, we've seen an explosion of diversity," said Ali.
Football rises, hockey falls
A 2024 report from the Jumpstart foundation which tracks youth sport participation across Canada found "soccer is consistently the most popular sport played." The finding applied to all demographic groups, excluding youth with disabilities.
Overall, 62 percent of Canada's youth reported playing football more than once over the past three years, with swimming second at 44 percent. While football has established broad popularity, the Jumpstart report makes clear there remains a racial and ethnic component to participation in the sport.
In a breakdown of preference by race and ethnicity, Jumpstart found 76 percent of Arab youth in Canada listed football as their top choice, followed by South Asians (69 percent), with white people coming sixth on the list at 58 percent.
The rise of football has also coincided with declines in youth hockey participation. "Soccer is cheaper than hockey with less equipment," said Dave Cooper, an associate professor (emeritus) of physical education at the University of Toronto.
The Jumpstart report listed hockey fifth among participation rates with data indicating the rate of young Canadians who play hockey has declined 33 percent over the last 15 years.
'Where the energy is'
Erik Wexler runs the youth sports program at Woodgreen, a Toronto social services organization. The program caters to low income families, especially new immigrants, and has focused on football and basketball because, he said, that is "what people are asking for."
"We're not just arbitrarily selecting a sport," he said. "We know where the energy is." Wexler told AFP football has proven to be an ideal avenue to offer immigrants a sense of community in their new home.
He regularly encounters parents working multiple jobs and living in apartments packed with more than one family - people who may not have the capacity to organize extra-curricular sports for their children.
They pounce at the opportunity to put their kids in a familiar sport, Wexler said. "I've never seen more appreciative people in my life."
Despite being a year away, Wexler said the youth he encounters know the World Cup is coming and the tournament, which it is co-hosting with the United States and Mexico, offers a chance to take the momentum of football in Canada "to the next level."
Canadian interest in the World Cup has risen in recent years, with people supporting teams for which they have a family connection - or in 2022, Canada directly, after the national side and its star player Alphonso Davies qualified for the Qatar tournament following a 36-year World Cup absence.
But next summer will mark an unprecedented moment for Canada, Cooper said. "We haven't hosted anything like this before." Apart from in Toronto, World Cup matches will also be played in Vancouver.
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