Canada's World Cup run is already reshaping soccer at home

On a sweltry Canada daylight morn in samuel houston, Canada’s men arrived for preparation at the Dynamo’s practice facilities and stepped on grass so perfect, it might have been carpet. It wasn’t lost on them that a Major League Soccer team in Texas has arguably better fields than anywhere in their home country.

Their historic run at this summer’s World Cup—Canada will play its first Round of 16 match against Morocco on Saturday—might change that. If a newly proposed National Training Centre is built, it will be a monument to this team’s glories as much as an incubator for future stars.

“I always knew the best thing I could do for the sport was to help this team be successful,” head coach Jesse Marsch said Wednesday. “The biggest thing we’re dying for in this country is infrastructure… [We] have an opportunity, and have a financial opportunity, to actually create change… We can actually build something.”

The knockout rounds will have a measurable impact on Canada Soccer’s bottom line, although it won’t be the windfall that FIFA’s exorbitant ticket prices might lead strapped-feeling fans to believe.

Every qualifying team received a $10-million U.S. Base payment, as well as $2.5 million U.S. To offset the costs of participation, including travel, accommodation, and operations. FIFA was shamed into increasing those amounts before April’s congress in Vancouver, after some teams, including Canada’s, risked losing money by taking part.

In a collective bargaining agreement signed in March, Canada’s men accepted a $25,000 base wage for each group stage match, or about $2 million in combined salary. They also received a $20,000 allotment to help friends and family follow them and four tickets to each game.

Canada Soccer, which had to buy seats from FIFA at market rates, spent more than $300,000 for tickets to the opener against Bosnia-Herzegovina alone.

Advancing to the Round of 32 earned the team another $2 million U.S., and Stephen Eustáquio’s late game-winner against South Africa won Canada Soccer a further $4 million U.S., as well as its place in the Round of 16.

Half that money goes to the players, who earn bonuses rather than wages for knockout games. That amount will be pooled with any prize money earned at next summer’s Women’s World Cup and divided equally among players from the men’s and women’s teams.

It’s a rough calculation just now, but Eustáquio’s heroics should earn each of his teammates about $40,000 U.S.

South Africa vs. Canada: Soccer North Reaction Show

Canada Soccer’s own finances have also vastly improved. A reworking of its deal with Canadian Soccer Media & Entertainment (formerly Canadian Soccer Business) and the attention that winning brings means that corporate and philanthropic revenues have soared compared to past cycles.

“People want to support institutions that show promise,” Kevin Blue, Canada Soccer’s CEO, said Wednesday.

Blue’s normally a restrained person—“coldly rational” is how he describes his professional approach—but even he admitted to jumping out of his seat and throwing himself into the arms of colleagues after Eustáquio’s fate-changing goal.

Canada to face Morocco in Round of 16 at FIFA World Cup

“The goal that Steph scored has immense sporting value and competitive value,” he said. “It has some direct value in terms of the prize money… But we know it will have resonating value for years to come.”

Later this week, Canada Soccer is expected to announce its final World Cup haul. In September, the organization launched “Canada Rising,” a nationwide fundraising campaign, with the goal of raising $25 million. It has almost certainly exceeded that.

Canada Soccer, which had spent decades in on- and off-field disarray, hired Blue in Feb. 2024. Annual revenues were about $34 million in 2023 and the organization ran at a loss. Even before this World Cup’s prize money, Blue projected a $6.55 million surplus on $62 million in revenue for 2026.

That improved financial trajectory, along with a surging enthusiasm for soccer, has made building a forever home for Canada’s national teams a real possibility. Blue said he expects to receive proposals from private and public partners across the country in the fall. The NTC’s location will be selected soon after, and construction will begin once funding is secured.

The facility will cost an estimated $250 to $300 million.

“It’s a significant priority, but it’s part of the continued professionalization of the organization,” Blue said. “We’re using the World Cup as a jumping off point”—straight out of his seat, and into the black.

Senior Contributor

Chris Jones is a journalist and screenwriter who began his career covering baseball and boxing for the National Post. He later joined Esquire magazine, where he won two National Magazine Awards for his feature writing. His memoir, Legs Hearts Minds: Loss and Its Remedies, will be published by Random House in June.

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