Soccer in Canada

BY ROBERT RONALD

Hockey may be Canada’s national sport, but with growing interest in the international game of football, more Canadian boys and girls are playing on the pitch than on the rink.

The first known soccer match in Canada was played in Toronto in 1859. Other matches took place on Canada’s west coast in the early 1860s. When teams representing the Toronto Lacrosse Club and the Carlton Cricket Club played in Toronto in 1876, they used a modern set of standard rules that define soccer as we know it today.

Over the following 30 years a number of provincial and regional soccer associations and leagues were formed, and in 1912 the Dominion of Canada Football Association, forerunner of the Canadian Soccer Association, was formed.

World wars, the Depression and internal conflict over whether soccer should be professional or amateur in Canada took its toll on the sport’s popularity in the first half of the 20th century. But in the latter half soccer rebounded, with Canada entering the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup for the first time in 1957 and with the establishment of a number of professional clubs in North American soccer leagues.

The popularity of women’s soccer increased rapidly in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1991, the first FIFA Women’s World Cup was played in China. In 2002 the first U-19 Women's World championship was played in Edmonton. Since then, Christine Sinclair, Charmaine Hooper, Kara Lang and others have become well-known sports heroines to many Canadians. 

Fun, Fast Facts: Men’s Soccer

1. 1876: Teams representing the Toronto Lacrosse Club and the Carlton Cricket Club played the first soccer game in Canada under “London Association Rules.”
2. 1904: Canada wins the soccer gold medal at the St. Louis Summer Olympics.
3. 1957: Canada enters the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) World Cup for the first time.
4. 1971: Professional soccer comes to Canada when the Toronto Metros and the Montreal Olympique enter the North American Soccer League (NASL)
5. 1976: Canada loses to the Soviet Union and North Korea during the Montreal Summer Olympics.
6. 1986: In Mexico, Canada plays in the World Cup finals for the first time, losing to France, Hungary and the Soviet Union.
7. 1987: Canada hosts the FIFA U-17 World Cup with games in Toronto, Montreal, St. John's and Saint John.
8. 1996: Canada reaches number 40 in FIFA ranking, out of 188
9. 2007: Major League Soccer debuts in Toronto.
10. 2007: Montreal, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa, Burnaby and Victoria will host matches in the FIFA U-20 World Cup.

1. 1991: China hosts the inaugural FIFA Women's World Cup, won by the United States.
2. 1995: Canada qualifies for the finals of the FIFA Women's World Cup in Sweden. Canada loses to England and Norway and ties Nigeria.
3. 1996: Women’s football introduced to the Summer Olympics.
4. 1999: Canada qualifies for the finals of the FIFA Women's World Cup in the United States. Canada ties Japan and loses to Norway and Russia.
5. 2001: According to a FIFA survey, 22 million women and girls around the world play football.
6. 2002: Edmonton hosts the first U-19 Women’s Championship. Canada wins silver.
7. 2002: Canada finishes second in the CONCACAF Gold Cup final.
8. 2007: Canada ranks tenth in the world.