Alphonso Davies, Jonathan David among Black stars leading Canada’s World Cup return
Playing in its first World Cup in 36 years, the Canadian men’s national team is full of representation past and current players take pride in
In the last 25 years, hockey’s biggest challenger to its eternal sports supremacy in Canada has been basketball. The growth of the sport north of the U.S.-Canadian border has been extraordinary, with the arrival of the NBA’s Toronto Raptors (and the former Vancouver Grizzlies, now in Memphis) contributing to a massive rise of interest and energy for basketball throughout the country. It’s only fitting that has become the case considering that basketball was, well, invented by a Canadian.
Black Canadian participation has been instrumental in Canada’s full love affair with basketball, but there is another sport among young Canadians challenging hockey’s dominance. Soccer is now Canada’s most popular sport among children.
Soccer, long in the distance of Canada’s overall collective sporting focus, is taking over. And on the verge of its men’s national team (nicknamed CanMNT) making a historic return to the World Cup stage for the first time in 36 years, Black Canadians have also been at the forefront of this remarkable rise in domestic popularity for the world’s most popular game.