Alphonso Davies, Jonathan David front Canada's 26-man roster for FIFA World Cup
CBC
Canadian head coach John Herdman on Sunday announced the 26-player roster that will represent the country in its first men's FIFA World Cup since 1986.
Bayern Munich's Alphonso Davies and Lille's Jonathan David are the headliners for Qatar, with Porto's Stephen Eustáquio and Club Brugge's Cyle Larin among the other key players.
Herdman has dubbed his team "new Canada" as it returns to the soccer showcase in Qatar after a 36-year absence.
The Canada roster includes 11 Major League Soccer players, including six from CF Montréal, three from Toronto FC and one from the Vancouver Whitecaps.
It also features defender Derek Cornelius, on loan from the Whitecaps to Greece's Panetolikos FC.
Liam Fraser, a midfielder deemed surplus to Toronto FC's requirements, made the team as did CF Montréal defender Joel Waterman, whose journey has taken him from the Canadian Premier League to the sport's ultimate stage.
Fears that Davies, Canada's most dynamic player, might miss the World Cup after picking up a hamstring injury have subsided.
The 22-year-old missed Bayern's last two Bundesliga games after sustaining the injury earlier this month.
Davies has played 34 times and scored 12 goals for Canada, who are returning to the World Cup for the first time in 36 years.
"A kid born in a refugee camp wasn't supposed to make it! But here we are going to the World Cup. Don't let no one tell you that your dreams are unrealistic. Keep dreaming, keep achieving," tweeted Davies after the squad was announced.
The 32 teams have until Monday to name their roster. The only restriction on the roster is that it must include three goalkeepers.
Players on the World Cup roster who were part of the Bahrain camp are already in the Qatari capital of Doha. Those who were with their European clubs arrive Sunday or Monday.
WATCH l Canada Soccer unveils World Cup roster:
Atiba Hutchinson, a 39-year-old midfielder and Canada's captain, was the only player on the roster alive during Canada's last World Cup appearance in 1986.
Soccer fans have accused FIFA of a "monumental betrayal" after latest prices for World Cup tickets began to circulate on Thursday.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman is “disappointed” that the main arena slated to host ice hockey at February’s Olympics isn’t yet completed with less than two months to go before the Games are scheduled to be played.
A two-year suspension from competitive swimming has forced Penny Oleksiak to answer questions about drug use, train by herself in public pools and defend her legacy as Canada’s most decorated female Olympian.
Hockey, one of the premier events at the Winter Olympics and one that is welcoming NHL players back for the first time in more than a decade, will take place on ice shorter than NHL-regulation size.
Summer McIntosh capped swimming’s U.S. Open with the event record in the women’s 200-metre butterfly on Saturday in Austin, Texas.
Some bronze medals are worth their weight in gold. Valerie Grenier's third-place finish in women's giant slalom at the Mont-Tremblant World Cup certainly fits that category.
The men’s World Cup draw in Washington D.C. was going well for Canada until Pot 4.
The draw for the 2026 World Cup takes place Friday at 12 p.m. ET at the Kennedy Center in Washington, for the purpose of dividing the 48-team field into 12 groups of four. Once the tournament starts, 32 teams will advance from those preliminary groups to the single-elimination knockout rounds.
The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., buzzed with activity and speculation on Thursday in advance of Friday’s all-important draw for the 2026 men’s World Cup.
By the time the management group for the Canadian men’s national hockey team emerges from marathon meetings on Tuesday, as much as 80 per cent of the roster going to Italy next February should be written in pen.
Canada’s ski mountaineering athletes have their Olympic dreams on the line this weekend at a World Cup event in Solitude, Utah.
Goalie Carter Hart, one of five 2018 Canada world junior hockey players acquitted of sexual assault in July, will make his first NHL appearance in nearly two years when he starts in goal Tuesday night for the Vegas Golden Knights, who host Chicago.
The Canadian women’s hockey team will bring back plenty of familiar faces for its final pre-Olympic games in Edmonton next week.