World Cup 2026

[Nite]

Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn

All good, thought provoking points.


I’d say the big difference between the NHL and MLS though, is that the NHL is, by far, the best professional hockey league on earth, while the MLS is debatably not even in the global top ten of professional soccer/football leagues.


It would be tremendously difficult and probably extremely unpopular for a CANEXIT to occur in the NHL… but the MLS? Not so much.

The MLS isn’t even close to the most popular soccer league among Canadian soccer fans, as the top flights of Europe are far more popular when it comes to viewership among Canadians… even if much of that viewership is on non official streams online.

Sure, there might be some MLS super fans in Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal that don’t want to see their clubs leave the MLS and join the CPL, but most soccer fans in Canada won’t care about the three Canadian clubs leaving the MLS, since they don’t follow the MLS to begin with.

I get that the MLS has done a lot to develop Canadian soccer talent, but it really hasn’t done much to create “soccer culture” across Canada, since there’s only teams in our three biggest cities … and Canada is quite a big, spread out country to say the least.

Professional soccer in Canada should be modeled after the English Football League system (complete with relegation/promotion)… and not modeled after American pro sports traditions like is the case with the MLS… at least not if the goal is to actually grow soccer culture, or even win the World Cup one day!

So if the Canadian teams leave MLS where is the 4 to 8 million dollar that is currently being spent by these teams their academies and scouting network going to come from, because the revenue in the CPL can't afford to have any team run an academy, which is a requirement for all MLS teams.

It's the scouting being done by the 3 MLS teams for their academies that is responsible for all the improvement in the Canadian national team. Just loosing 1 of the 3 teams would cripple the development of Canadian soccer players.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by Nite

So if the Canadian teams leave MLS where is the 4 to 8 million dollar that is currently being spent by these teams their academies and scouting network going to come from, because the revenue in the CPL can't afford to have any team run an academy, which is a requirement for all MLS teams.

It's the scouting being done by the 3 MLS teams for their academies that is responsible for all the improvement in the Canadian national team. Just loosing 1 of the 3 teams would cripple the development of Canadian soccer players.

Maybe from the billions they’ll get from selling their MLS franchises to American owners?

[MolsonExport]

Germany's out.

[BlackDog204]

Originally Posted by mousquet

Ha ha... Alright. It's not like soccer will go as pop as hockey in your country, but it's still something.
It may help.

You guys will face either the Netherlands or Morocco in the next round, that will be something else.

Soccer has the potential to be the #2 sport in Canada in terms of viewership. It's already more popular than baseball and basketball, and within striking distance of the NFL (it's far more popular than the CFL).

I can only see Soccer becoming more and more popular as the wealth gap increases.

[MonctonRad]

Morocco it is.....

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by BlackDog204

Soccer has the potential to be the #2 sport in Canada in terms of viewership. It's already more popular than baseball and basketball, and within striking distance of the NFL (it's far more popular than the CFL).

I can only see Soccer becoming more and more popular as the wealth gap increases.

Depends how you measure. Using a world cup is a bit misleading. It's international and once every four years. The Grey cup gets 4 million viewers and I'm sure there isn't any professional soccer match in Canada that gets even 1 million viewers. The previous record was Croatia Canada not much higher than 4 million. This might be a one-off given our hosting even for the World cup.

World Series was 7 million and even a regular broadcast is going to beat the champions league final or any MLS match.

Live Attendance would be interesting in terms of who's gone to a game in the past year it's still probably Hockey, CFL, Baseball, Basketball, Soccer. In terms of dollars spent it's surely last.

If you ask what your favorite sport to watch is it might be second sure and certainly would be for under 30.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

While I’m definitely hoping Canada can miraculously make it past Morocco… it would be amazing to see Morocco beat France (given the history) and the Moroccans certainly have a better chance of upsetting the French than we do.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

Depends how you measure. Using a world cup is a bit misleading. It's international and once every four years. The Grey cup gets 4 million viewers and I'm sure there isn't any professional soccer match in Canada that gets even 1 million viewers. The previous record was Croatia Canada not much higher than 4 million. This might be a one-off given our hosting even for the World cup.

World Series was 7 million and even a regular broadcast is going to beat the champions league final or any MLS match.

Live Attendance would be interesting in terms of who's gone to a game in the past year it's still probably Hockey, CFL, Baseball, Basketball, Soccer. In terms of dollars spent it's surely last.

If you ask what your favorite sport to watch is it might be second sure and certainly would be for under 30.

There’s probably at least double the official viewership ratings for this World Cup if we include non official streams. This isn’t something you can just get with an antenna, you need to pay for TSN. Theres a huge amount of people in Canada that are watching the World Cup via non official streams that would never even think to find a stream for the Grey Cup, let alone the MLS playoffs. Over 20% of Canada is now foreign born, and soccer is, by far, the most popular sport among newcomer Canadians. Soccer fans in Canada are mostly watching the leagues of Europe, not the MLS.

Live attendance of games, however, is probably soccer’s biggest weakspot in Canada, as demonstrated by our largest city having one of the two smallest stadiums in the World Cup, which would have been the smallest stadium in the tournament by far if not for the temporary seating they added.

Canadian soccer fans also have a strange fetish for soccer specific stadiums which they think are better because they’re smaller and have a “better atmosphere”… one of my friends in Toronto believes So-Fi in Los Angeles had a worse atmosphere than “Toronto Stadium” because it was too big and soulless. Yeah right lol!

To me, “soccer specific stadiums” don’t make a lot of sense when CFL football teams and CPL football clubs should be sharing the same stadium facilities. Soccer and football are two of the most popular sports in Canada, and they both use grass and a similar sized playing surface. It’s insane to me that we now have a Canadian Premier League, but there’s no team in Regina, SK… the city with the best football fans in the country. Teams in Europe often share the same team name between sports, and they should just do the same thing between CPL and CFL teams… the Riders and Bluebombers could have association football clubs in addition to their CFL clubs, and maybe the team in Winnipeg wouldn’t be such a failure… since they’d have their rivalry with the Riders from the get go… and play in the same stadiums.

Even if we never see the Canadian MLS clubs do the right thing for the future of soccer in Canada (leave the American MLS) we could at least see tremendous growth and cooperation on the financial and facilities side between CFL and CPL organizations. If every CFL team got a corresponding CPL club over the next decade, that would dramatically increase the presence and credibility of the CPL and professional soccer in general. It could also be the impetus for the creation of our own version of the FA cup, so that the best teams in the CPL and other Canadian leagues could compete against the MLS teams to be crowned the Canadian club champion… something better than the current Canadian Championship.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn

While I’m definitely hoping Canada can miraculously make it past Morocco… it would be amazing to see Morocco beat France (given the history) and the Moroccans certainly have a better chance of upsetting the French than we do.

Morroco seems like an easier upset for Canada though perhaps even more likely a 4-0 loss than Netherlands.

Not sure why it'd be amazing for a bunch of European born Morroccoans to defeat a bunch of French born (Morrocan et al) Real blow for colonialism that.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

Morroco seems like an easier upset for Canada though perhaps even more likely a 4-0 loss than Netherlands.

Not sure why it'd be amazing for a bunch of European born Morroccoans to defeat a bunch of French born (Morrocan et al) Real blow for colonialism that.

Morocco is definitely the stronger side to Netherlands… they nearly beat Brazil earlier in the tournament.

If it comes to penalties again versus Canada… it will be a Montréaler killing Canada’s dreams of World Cup Glory. 🥲




When push comes to shove, it’s the flag that matters most, and if Morocco beats France at football, it will be a monumental cause of celebration. France might have officially ceased their colonization of Africa decades ago, but their arrogance lives on today… ask any Moroccan.

Would love to see Canada beat France too, but it’s a lot less likely than Morocco doing it… though, this World Cup has already seen many upsets… maybe Team Canada will make history.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn

Morocco is definitely the stronger side to Netherlands… they nearly beat Brazil earlier in the tournament.

If it comes to penalties again versus Canada… it will be a Montréaler killing Canada’s dreams of World Cup Glory. 🥲

When push comes to shove, it’s the flag that matters most, and if Morocco beats France at football, it will be a monumental cause of celebration. France might have officially ceased their colonization of Africa decades ago, but their arrogance lives on today… ask any Moroccan.

Would love to see Canada beat France too, but it’s a lot less likely than Morocco doing it… though, this World Cup has already seen many upsets… maybe Team Canada will make history.

True. All of Africa will be celebrating if they beat France. And that's just in Paris. Canada might pull off one upset but twice is really approaching miracle territory.

[Surrealplaces]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

True. All of Africa will be celebrating if they beat France. And that's just in Paris. Canada might pull off one upset but twice is really approaching miracle territory.

I wouldn't call Canada's win over South Africa an upset, they were favoured by most to win. Beating Morocco would be a major upset though.

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by Surrealplaces

I wouldn't call Canada's win over South Africa an upset, they were favoured by most to win. Beating Morocco would be a major upset though.

Agreed. I meant beating Morocco is in realm of possiblity. Beating France after that an absolute miracle.

[mousquet]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Germany's out.

Mm, disappointing. I would've liked France to take on Germany in the next round.
Paraguayans can play soccer like most Latin American countries, but it's not the same prestige as the Germans who won 4 WC.
Also, there is that good old everlasting rivalry between them and the French.
I wouldn't like the Paraguayans to feel scorned or underrated, eh. The French would take them seriously anyway, if they beat Sweden tonight.
Just say Germany would've been funnier to us, due to historic rivalry and the prestige granted to the Germans.

Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn

When push comes to shove, it’s the flag that matters most, and if Morocco beats France at football, it will be a monumental cause of celebration. France might have officially ceased their colonization of Africa decades ago, but their arrogance lives on today… ask any Moroccan.

Not aware of that. How many Moroccans did you ask? The French-Moroccan relations are actually pacified and friendly, at least to my knowledge.
That said, beating France would be a national — to them, there's no question about that.
At this point, everybody wants to beat France, Spain or Argentina anyhow.
Thank God, all underdogs want to overcome. That's natural.

As for the Canadians, I would give them a 20% chance against Morocco.
Current top 10 nations in the FIFA ranking.

1. Argentina
2. France
3. Spain
4. England
5. Brazil
6. Morocco
7. Netherlands
8. Protugal
9. Mexico
10. Belgium

In other words, Canada (ranked 30) seems to be on a tough, almost impossible mission.
But yeah, sometimes unexpected things may happen at real football.

[Metro-One]

I honestly don’t know why hockey is still supreme in Canada.

The cost point for playing has become extremely limiting for large swaths of the population, and the NHL has become a joke for Canada. Winning teams and expansions are continuously in areas where hockey is a 4th rank sport. It’s been how many decades since a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup?

Would be great if hockey fell out of favor in Canada and soccer rose.

It actually gets kind of embarrassing now seeing Canadians cling to hockey that is obviously controlled by American interests now.

[BlackDog204]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

Depends how you measure. Using a world cup is a bit misleading. It's international and once every four years. The Grey cup gets 4 million viewers and I'm sure there isn't any professional soccer match in Canada that gets even 1 million viewers. The previous record was Croatia Canada not much higher than 4 million. This might be a one-off given our hosting even for the World cup.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/s...d-cup-knockout-match-52-million-viewers/

The 3 qualifying games Canada played averaged 5.2 million viewers. The match against South Africa will almost certainly be higher. Canada's World Cup ratings are consistently higher than the Grey Cups, despite:

-the games being played mainly on weekdays at 3 PM eastern time, when most people are at work.
-the Grey Cup game is in prime time Sunday night, and heavily advertised, and a Canadian tradition for a century, taking place at the same time every year.

World Series was 7 million and even a regular broadcast is going to beat the champions league final or any MLS match.

this was a clear outlier. the Toronto vs LA game was the most viewed baseball event in Canadian history, and it featured Toronto. If Canada makes the World Cup Final, it would probably eclipse the 2005 MLB Game 7. You also fail to mention that ordinary Canadian sports fans don't get excited about what happens between two European soccer clubs, and very few people follow the European leagues, considering they are on the other side of the World.

Live Attendance would be interesting in terms of who's gone to a game in the past year it's still probably Hockey, CFL, Baseball, Basketball, Soccer. In terms of dollars spent it's surely last.

We for MLB, NBA, and NHL, there is no league that is currently comparable in popularity in NOrth America. MLS would most likely be just as big, if the MLS was the undisputed top league in the World when it comes to soccer. However, it's not, and it's relatively new compared to the other leagues.

If MLS featured all the top players in the World, it would likely get better ratings than the MLB and NBA. It already does better attendance at the gate than the dying CFL.

[BlackDog204]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Germany's out.

Germany and Netherlands, two teams that tend to go far each tourney. Morocco is doing well again, just like 2022. The real shocker was Paraguay's win. That leaves Italy, Germany, and Holland out before the round of 16. Not sure if that has ever occurred.

Looks like France is Europes greatest hope to win the cup. followed by England, then Croatia.

[BlackDog204]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

I honestly don’t know why hockey is still supreme in Canada.

The cost point for playing has become extremely limiting for large swaths of the population, and the NHL has become a joke for Canada. Winning teams and expansions are continuously in areas where hockey is a 4th rank sport. It’s been how many decades since a Canadian team won the Stanley Cup?

Would be great if hockey fell out of favor in Canada and soccer rose.

It actually gets kind of embarrassing now seeing Canadians cling to hockey that is obviously controlled by American interests now.

Football, baseball, basketball, soccer, and nearly every other team sport is not controlled by Canadian interests.

[jonny24]

Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn

It’s insane to me that we now have a Canadian Premier League, but there’s no team in Regina, SK… the city with the best football fans in the country. Teams in Europe often share the same team name between sports, and they should just do the same thing between CPL and CFL teams… the Riders and Bluebombers could have association football clubs in addition to their CFL clubs, and maybe the team in Winnipeg wouldn’t be such a failure… since they’d have their rivalry with the Riders from the get go… and play in the same stadiums.

I'm confused what you're saying here, the Winnipeg team WAS run by the Bombers in the Bombers stadium. Poorly, you could argue.

And I'm sure you've met other other soccer fans - there would have been a massive amount of whining if they CPL teams launched using their CFL parent clubs branding and identities. It's only okay to share identities if soccer is the big dog (i.e. Barcelona), it's not okay if soccer is the little brother.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by jonny24

I'm confused what you're saying here, the Winnipeg team WAS run by the Bombers in the Bombers stadium. Poorly, you could argue.

And I'm sure you've met other other soccer fans - there would have been a massive amount of whining if they CPL teams launched using their CFL parent clubs branding and identities. It's only okay to share identities if soccer is the big dog (i.e. Barcelona), it's not okay if soccer is the little brother.

Yeah but they were called Valour FC or something dumb like that, and Regina never had a team at the same time. I’ve also heard the Winnipeg team failed because the stadium was too big… which is also dumb. Sounds more like tickets were just too expensive.

That’s a totally made up rule that you can only share team nicknames when soccer is the top dog. If the CPL tries again with expansion teams in Winnipeg, and Regina (and they simply call them the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Winnipeg Bluebombers) I’m fully confident they’ll succeed.