Soccer in Canada | Canada Hosting the 2026 World Cup

[elly63]

Originally Posted by logan5

Don’t follow euro football, but I’m guessing Canada hasn’t had anywhere near this many players playing in top leagues before.

This summer was a great boon to get more players in the Big Four (Five) Leagues but we also had a conundrum of having players play for historically famous clubs but in lesser leagues.

For instance, Johnston plays for Celtic and the SPL is not a great league compared to the others. Sigur plays at famed Hajduk Split in Croatia. Nelson used to play at Copenhagen and Cornelius was at Malmo which a long time back were successful clubs in Europe.

So it's good to have players at the highest levels but they have to play. That was one of the factors that hurt the US. They had a bunch of players in the best leagues and teams but they weren't playing. That's what hurt Tajon Bucjhanan at Inter, he was barely seeing the field and it hurt his development. You'd be better off playing full time in MLS.

[AuxTown]

Originally Posted by logan5

Don’t follow euro football, but I’m guessing Canada hasn’t had anywhere near this many players playing in top leagues before.

We have always had a smattering of players playing for big teams but there has never been this many playing for big Tier 1-3 teams. A lot of folks are saying our players playing at big clubs is the reason for international success, but I think it is the opposite. Our success internationally the last couple years has resulted in more interest in Canadian talent. That, in turn, is only going to develop our young guys further and, hopefully, we will be putting forward the best team we have ever fielded in 2026!

Also interesting is how few of our players play in Canada:

[elly63]

For some reason they neglected to talk about Cyle Larin our number two striker who has yet to play for Mallorca. He wants out and the fans want him out. Getafe may be looking at him but things aren't looking great for him at the present. Hopefully Mallorca will be able to offload him and make everybody (including Larin) happy.

On a positive note Nathan Saliba scored another for Anderlecht and the recoveries of Davies, Millar and Bombito are going well.

I'd like to see the emergence of Sirois and Pantemis as potential NT keepers. still rumours of Sirois to Southampton.

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[elly63]

Originally Posted by elly63

MLS Players to Watch During the Summer Transfer Window
Tom Bogert givemesport.com May 29, 2025

Silly season is here, with the vast majority of European teams having completed their 2024/25 seasons. It’s time for the summer transfer window to kick into high gear.

Here are the MLSers to watch in the transfer window the next few months.

Nathan Saliba CF Montréal

CF Montréal midfielder Nathan Saliba is expected to move this summer, sources say.

Where? To be determined. The Canadian international has been a brightspot for Montréal the last two and a half years. No bids have come yet this summer, but that is expected to change. Montréal are reasonable with valuations and have moved plenty of players to Europe in recent years, one of the best in MLS at that.

Saliba, 21, has 77 first team appearances and continues to grow in importance.

Tani Oluwaseyi Minnesota United

Tani Oluwaseyi is an interesting player for the summer transfer window. He signed a contract extension this winter, but that wouldn't rule out a summer move if the right offer comes.

This winter, Minnesota rejected a $2 million transfer offer from Maccabi Haifa, sources say. Championship clubs and others in Europe have had interest as well.

The 25-year-old Canadian international has six goals and five assists in 1,142 minutes this season, off to the best pace of his career.

With Saliba going to Anderlecht it is one down one to go.

Big news, rumours of Tani Oluwaseyi joining Tajon Buchanan at Villarreal are presently making waves.

Also, it is likely Cyle Larin will be moved from Mallorca, the situation is not good presently.

[elly63]

Promise David gets his first goal of the season. It happened so fast the director missed it (Start at 4:40)

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[elly63]

[elly63]

Rumours that l’Olympique de Marseille are in talks with Alavès to transfer Derek Cornelius to the La Liga team. Looks like OM is asking for €4M.

[elly63]

Villarreal, Minnesota reach agreement for Oluwaseyi: Transfer numbers
With a few fringes missing, the Canada international will arrive in Villarreal next week
Ismael Mateu Vila-real August 20, 2025

Marcelino García Toral. He already has one of the two strikers he requested from the sports management of Villarreal to shore up the squad. Canadian Tani Oluwaseyi will officially become a new Villarreal player in the coming days after the agreement reached on Wednesday between Villarreal and his home club, Minnesota United of Major League Soccer (MLS), which only has a few fringes and bureaucratic procedures left to make it official.

As indicated this past Tuesday, the positions between the two parties had come closer, after a first refusal by the Loons (Minnesota) to a Yellows (Villarreal) offer of more than 3.5 million Euros.

The numbers of the operation
The American club requested 8 million Euros and finally the operation will be closed at 6 million, with each of the parties giving up something. For this reason, this Wednesday the verbal agreement has already been reached and the contracts for the transfer of the player from Concacaf to UEFA began to be drafted, as it is a transaction of different confederations.

With all this, it is expected that the Canadian international footballer will go to Villarreal next week. The agreement with Oluwaseyi was already closed last week. The Canadian centre-forward was born in Nigeria. He will sign for the next five seasons.

Power and goalscoring
Tanitoluwa Oluwatimikhin Oluwaseyi (Abuja, Nigeria, 5/15/2000) has 12 goals and 8 assists in 28 games in 2025 with Minnesota United, while with Canada he has 15 official matches and 2 goals.

The Canadian was selected by Minnesota at number 17 in the 2022 MLS SuperDraft.

In 2023 he was loaned to San Antonio FC, a USL Championship team, where he scored 16 goals and provided 7 assists, and returned to the first team in 2024. Villarreal sign power and goalscoring for their striker.

[elly63]

Possible NT hopefuls: Joel Waterman has moved from CF Montreal to Chicago Fire and Liam Fraser from Crawley Town to Reading FC

[AuxTown]

Originally Posted by elly63

Possible NT hopefuls: Joel Waterman has moved from CF Montreal to Chicago Fire and Liam Fraser from Crawley Town to Reading FC

Love that we have depth/competition at almost every position on the team. Looking forward to our upcoming friendlies to see what this team can do....got my ticks for MTL!

[elly63]

Good news and bad news.

The bad news, Alistair Johnston is out with a leg injury until November. He was just running along by himself and pulled up with what looked like a hamstring injury and that is apparently what it is.

The only good news is that we have had injuries to many of our major players already so hopefully they will be healthy in the run up to the WC.

The two things that could kill us before the WC are Johnny David getting injured or if the players that have recently transferred to the Big Four league teams don't get any playing time. That killed the US, they had players at big clubs who never saw any action.

[elly63]

[elly63]

La Liga's leading scorer Tajon Buchanan scores three (4:40, 8:30, 12:00) as Villarreal beats Girona 5-0

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[elly63]

Jonathan David, first regular season Serie A game, first regular season Serie A goal for Juventus (6:55)

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[elly63]

Pardon the translation

PSV Eindhoven wants Cyle Larin
The Dutch club has been interested in the situation of the Canadian striker in recent hours, who is tempted by the option despite the fact that his priority throughout the summer has been to remain in Spain

Cyle Larin has a new suitor to leave Real Mallorca. As you have learned, PSV Eindhoven has been interested in the situation of the Canadian striker, who wants to leave the island anyway before the close of the market, and the thing is very serious. It's not the only option the player manages, but if the one that attracts him the most. The Dutch club want to strengthen its lead in the coming days and the Canada international is one of his most serious options at the moment.

Cyle Larin's departure has conditioned the Mallorca market at all times, which hopes that its situation can be resolved immediately in order to be able to bring a substitute for guarantees, something that seems complicated at this point in the market. Larin's priority has been clear all summer: he wanted to leave Son Moix, thinking he would be the best option to leave the island on a fast track, in fact before leaving in June with Canada he made personal formalities not to return, but everything has been lengthening. His mission was to stay in Spain going to a La Liga club, but the option of PSV, who plays Champions League, tempts him. He's waiting for , which could arrive in the next few hours.

In the lead-up to the Celtic match, Jagoba Arrasate was blunt in terms of the 'Larin case'. "Why isn't Larin recoverable? He helped us in one-off moments by winning several away games, he was worse in the second round as everyone else. The only team that has bet on Larin was Mallorca paying for a transfer, the others a lot to talk, but no one bets on it," he said. The reality is that the player does not want to continue in any way and hopes that the PSV option will advance, although he is not the only team that thinks about his possible signing.

Pablo Ortells (CEO of Football), initially, claimed for the departure of the striker a cost of cession of one million euros, but in recent weeks he has been lowering the pretensions. In addition, from the sports management they want to add different bonuses of performance per objective, so the operation, in the best case, will go to a minimum of five million euros for the club that takes it from Mallorca.

Son Moix handed down a sentence to the Canadian tip at the Trophyu Ciutat de Palma against Hamburg, in the team's presentation. The player jumped to the lawn at the time the names of all the members of the first staff were recited, but then he was no longer seen. The striker has made it clear to Ortells that he does not feel comfortable on the island, does not like the club and considers that his relationship with the hobby is impossible to redirect. In the first two games of LaLiga against Barcelona and Celta he was not seen in the stands of Son Moix, unlike Pablo Maffeo, another player who hopes to solve his departure in this last week of the market.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by AuxTown

We have always had a smattering of players playing for big teams but there has never been this many playing for big Tier 1-3 teams. A lot of folks are saying our players playing at big clubs is the reason for international success, but I think it is the opposite. Our success internationally the last couple years has resulted in more interest in Canadian talent. That, in turn, is only going to develop our young guys further and, hopefully, we will be putting forward the best team we have ever fielded in 2026!

Also interesting is how few of our players play in Canada:

If Shaffelburg ever going to make the move to Europe? Impressive to see so many Canadian players playing in the top two flights over the pond.

I really hope Canadian soccer takes this opportunity to double down on the anti American sentiment and make our own system of soccer leagues more like the European model, and less like the American model, which would include things like relegation, and greatly expanding the amount of clubs in Canada.

What would be really nice, would be for 3 Canadian MLS franchises to sell their franchises to American cities, but keep their branding and become the big three of the CPL.

I think for the CPL to ever really succeed, it needs to have far more teams nationwide, and eventually adopt a relegation system comparable to that found in Europe.

I truly think Canada has an opportunity to leapfrog the US in soccer, and it certainly won't hurt if we continue to see more newcomers coming to Canada to Canada from West Africa and North Africa. I'm not really informed on how the scouting goes for clubs in the CPL, but I'd hope they are scouting the leagues in North and West Africa, and trying to get some talented prospects before European clubs sign them first. I imagine it's very hard for CPL teams to compete with even second and third flight European teams, but not impossible.

[elly63]

The purpose of the CPL is to develop Canadian talent not African.

Pro/rel will never go over as nobody wants to invest a ton of money and then one day they are trying to promote a game against High River instead of Calgary. The audience of Euro snobs who have helped hold down the development of Canadian soccer for decades isn't big enough to push that dead herring forward.

We don't need to copy anyone, that always puts you a step behind. The thought of TFC and their "elitist" fanbase opting to go to the CPL is (enter your favourite pejorative).

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by elly63

The purpose of the CPL is to develop Canadian talent not African.

Pro/rel will never go over as nobody wants to invest a ton of money and then one day they are trying to promote a game against High River instead of Calgary. The audience of Euro snobs who have helped hold down the development of Canadian soccer for decades isn't big enough to push that dead herring forward.

We don't need to copy anyone, that always puts you a step behind. The thought of TFC and their "elitist" fanbase opting to go to the CPL is (enter your favourite pejorative).

What a myopic perspective. Ever heard of immigration? You really like to talk in such absolute-isms, but I've learned to expect nothing less from you, Elly.

Canada's best player is a West African who became a Canadian by moving here. Why couldn't the same be said for future African prospects scouted by CPL teams? There's a whole world of soccer prospects out there that could become Canadians... or not, as it would still be entirely possible for these international players to play for a Canadian club and become Canadian citizens, while still competing for their national teams in their home countries.

The idea that "Euro Snobs" have helped hold down Canadian soccer is utterly asinine. Europe is the heartbeat of the soccer world, and we should be trying to emulate their success, not the MLS. It's not about copying, it's about competing with the best. If we ever want Canada to be taken seriously as a footballing nation, we need to worry about competing with the Europeans and the South Americans, not the United States.

Promotion and relegation would be an overwhelming popular addition to Canadian soccer for the fans, but yes, I understand the owners would push back against such transformational changes.

Though, i don't think the ownership of Toronto FC, Montreal FC, or the Vancouver White Caps would exactly be worried about facing relegation if they were to become the "big 3" of the CPL, similar to the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea, and Liverpool in the EPL.

Why do you have so much pride in the CPL being more like the MLS than the EPL and other European leagues, Elly? I just don't get it.

[elly63]

You already admitted you know nothing about Canadian soccer and football and you prove it with every post.

You don't get it is right. You don't get the reality that this is North America and not Europe. Why would soccer emulate a model that is foreign to us and our history. If you want to BS and say we are copying an American model go ahead but at any other time in history but the present Anti Americanism is high school stuff. We blame them for our inadequacy. Thankfully the days of the Canadian inferiority complex are pretty much over.

I don't want to be like Europe and I sure as hell don't want to be like the US either. Time to stand on our own two feet, there's lots of young talent here to be developed, we don't need to be scumbags and poach poor countries like France did. There's a great European model.

[mousquet]

Originally Posted by elly63

Time to stand on our own two feet, there's lots of young talent here to be developed, we don't need to be scumbags and poach poor countries like France did.

If you said that again, I would suspend you for racism.
All French players in France's national team were born, raised and trained in France, with French soccer knowledge.
You sound like the Argentinians claiming that all our players came from Angola.
Why did Angola never win the World Cup, then?

All French players play French football, no matter what they look like.