“It’s no surprise that Toronto produces world-class players”: A World Cup post-mortem with Canada Soccer CEO Kevin Blue

Over the past month, Toronto transformed into a footy madhouse as the city hosted the World Cup. Team Canada played its first home match in tournament history at BMO Field, resulting in a 1–1 draw against Bosnia and Herzegovina. What followed was an event full of drama and excitement, culminating yesterday with Spain defeating Argentina in New Jersey, where Donald Trump and Mark Carney were on hand to congratulate the new champions.

And Canada has emerged a winner too. The men’s national team recorded its first World Cup victory, advanced to the knockout stage for the first time and won its first knockout-round match before bowing out in the round of 16. Outspoken head coach Jesse Marsch dominated the headlines, but behind the scenes, the campaign was steered by Kevin Blue, a Toronto native who left a career in golf and US college sports to become CEO of Canada Soccer. Here, Blue discusses navigating the highs and lows of Canada’s wild run and what this summer’s success could mean for soccer in Toronto and Canada.

What a whirlwind this World Cup must have been. Can you take us back to the team’s opening game in Toronto? Our preparation phase took us through Charlotte, Edmonton and Montreal, but the World Cup truly began when the players arrived at Billy Bishop airport. You could feel the city’s excitement and its eagerness to welcome the world. On game day, the energy inside the stadium was breathtaking. Tens of thousands of supporters marched through the streets. Alanis Morissette performed the national anthem. You could hear cheers from the crowd attending the Fan Festival at Fort York. Playing the first-ever World Cup game in this country was a historic moment nobody will forget.

You were a star college golfer at Stanford and, before taking this job in 2024, the chief sport officer at Golf Canada. What attracted a lifelong linksman to soccer? I had no playing experience beyond some youth sports, but I was definitely a fan. Canada has historically been drawn to hockey, baseball and basketball. However, those sports pale in comparison to the global reach of soccer. It’s played in virtually every country and is incredibly accessible: all you need is a ball. That’s the key reason soccer is the most-played sport in Canada—even though our media coverage still has room to mature. The chance to boost the game’s profile during a major event like the World Cup was very attractive to me. It was a unique nation-building opportunity. There aren’t many jobs in sport where the cultural impact is so broad.

Canada’s women’s team has been an international force for more than a decade while the men had achieved far less success. As CEO, what did you do to ensure that the men would excel on home soil? The players and coaches deliver the results, so I saw my job as creating the best possible conditions for them. Hiring Jesse Marsch, who had coached in some of Europe’s top leagues, put the program in a stronger position. We also wanted to show the players that we cared about them as people, not just as athletes, and that we supported their careers beyond the national team. That helped build trust and a relationship in which they felt secure enough to perform at their best. A few business decisions enabled progress too: we increased fundraising and revenue so we could reinvest in our programs, and we completed a collective bargaining agreement with the players’ union. That meant everybody entered the tournament feeling aligned and secure.

There were plenty of highlights this tourney: Cyle Larin’s tying goal in the opener, Stephen Eustáquio’s winner against South Africa in the round of 16. What was the high point for you personally? It was witnessing the joy of my staff members, who have spent decades building soccer in Canada. Watching Canada go that far meant a great deal to people who had only dreamed of it happening. Some staffers had worked toward that moment for almost 50 years. I’ve only been involved for two years, so I feel fortunate to have contributed.

There were some lowlights too: Ismaël Koné broke his leg during the win against Qatar. How did the team come together after that? What happened to Ismaël was terrible. You never want to see anyone go through something like that. But the players’ response showed me how deeply they care about one another. In one of the most important moments in the program’s history—Canada’s first World Cup win—they were more preoccupied with how Ismaël was doing than with the result. They suffered with him and empathized with him. That revealed how connected this group is, and they carried that solidarity forward to beat South Africa 10 days later.

GTA-born players like Ali Ahmed and Tajon Buchanan made vital contributions to the campaign. Does Toronto have enough infrastructure to produce more players of this calibre? Toronto is a world-class city, and soccer is the world’s game, so it should come as no surprise that it’s producing players capable of competing on the global stage. That infrastructure starts with Toronto FC’s investment in both its Major League Soccer team and its academy. The city is also home to Canadian Premier League club Inter Toronto, which has also invested in an academy of its own. Then there are the many youth clubs across the GTA supporting player development. My six-year-old daughter, for example, loves the game and plays in Mississauga. The national team benefits from all of that activity across the region.

What would you like to achieve next? We reached a lot of milestones in 2026. Now everyone involved in Canadian soccer has both an opportunity and a responsibility to use the visibility of this World Cup to keep the sport on a positive trajectory. That means investing in infrastructure, including our planned federally funded national training centre as well as more soccer facilities across the country. It means supporting professional teams, expanding the base of volunteers and coaches, and bringing more young people into local clubs.

How do you think soccer culture in Toronto will change after hosting the World Cup? Torontonians are increasingly appreciating the magnitude of the passion for this sport, and I believe that will continue. That momentum was already building, but hosting matches allowed people to experience it on another level. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Toronto soccer fans bring the same attention and enthusiasm to supporting Canada’s women’s team at next year’s World Cup in Brazil.

You mentioned that you didn’t play much soccer before taking on your current role. How would you rate your skills today? At international soccer events, staff members from different national teams sometimes get together for an old-timers’ kick-around. I’m still in relatively decent shape, so I can run, and I’m high on effort and athleticism. But I’m admittedly low on technical ability and would be seriously challenged to use both feet adequately. So I usually play up front, where I am less likely to become a defensive liability.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.