The 26-man squad for Canada's FIFA World Cup 2026 campaign was unveiled on Friday night, giving Canadians a look at which players will represent them on the world's biggest stage next month.
Any player who rises to that level in Canada had a different path to the top, but the soccer ecosystem in this country is incredibly inter-connected. Unsurprisingly, several figures around the Canadian Premier League had a hand in developing members of Jesse Marsch's squad.
Joel Waterman, of course, stands alone as a World Cup-bound player who made his professional debut in the CPL.
However, he's not the only Canada player to hone his skills under a current CPL coach. Of course, several coaches around the CPL have recently been invited by Marsch to Canada camps, but before all that, many of the league's foremost figures helped set current Canadian stars on their professional path.
Here are a few major connections between Canada's league and its national team.
Richie Laryea, Cyle Larin & Tajon Buchanan: Smyrniotis' Sigma standouts
Before he was winning trophies in the CPL with Forge FC, Bobby Smyrniotis was the architect of one of the country's premier factories of soccer talent.
As co-founder of Sigma FC, and head coach of their men's first team in the Ontario Premier League (then League1 Ontario), Smyrniotis saw a legion of future professionals pass through his ranks.
Three of them — Laryea, Larin and Buchanan — are all headed to their second FIFA World Cup, after going to Qatar in 2022 as well.
Laryea and Larin both spent years in Sigma's youth system and eventually graduated to the first team before starting their pro careers. Buchanan, meanwhile, spent a summer with Sigma in 2018 before entering the MLS SuperDraft.
Moïse Bombito & Ismaël Koné: CS Saint-Laurent grads and FC Supra's inspiration
If you haven't read it yet, we've got much more detail on Bombito and Koné's paths through the CS Saint-Laurent system elsewhere at CPLsoccer.com.
Both players made an impact at the youth level with CS Saint-Laurent under the tutelage of Rocco Placentino, who says that their success inspired him to found FC Supra du Québec.
Now that Bombito and Koné have set the standard, Placentino is eager to help develop the next generation of Quebecois stars in the CPL.
Vanni Sartini: Fingerprints all over World Cup 2026
The current Halifax Wanderers head coach has plenty of former players headed to this World Cup.
By his count, it should be eight in total that played for him when he was head coach of the Vancouver Whitecaps.
The four Canadians: Maxime Crépeau, Richie Laryea, Ali Ahmed and Derek Cornelius (Alphonso Davies had already left by the time Sartini got there).
Sartini will also proudly point out that Sebastian Berhalter (United States) and Alessandro Schöpf (Austria) have also been named by their countries. Plus, it's likely that Pedro Vite (Ecuador) and Andrés Cubas (Paraguay) will be part of their nations' squads as well.
In fact, Cubas and Berhalter could go head-to-head in the opening match of Group D on June 12.
"I'll be extremely happy to see them, and I'll be their fan, of course, during the World Cup, because it's the biggest stage that a player or a coach can be at," Sartini said of all his former players. "I'm really happy that some guys that I've worked with are going to be there."
Their first Canada camp: Wheeldon Jr. recalls Davies, David at U-15 level
Like dozens of current CPL players, most of the current World Cup team went through plenty of youth national team camps on their way here.
Cavalry FC coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. recalls one particulalry special U-15 camp in Mexico back in 2015, when Alphonso Davies and Jonathan David represented their country for the first time.
Wheeldon Jr. was part of Sean Fleming's coaching staff at the time, and he says that Davies and David, who had never played together before then, instantly clicked.
"Alphonso and Jonathan, you could see there was this chemistry," Wheeldon Jr. said.
"To have been part of their first time they pulled on the Maple Leaf, that's pretty special."
Keep an eye on CPLsoccer.com next week for the full story.
Family Ties: Eustáquio, Choinière set to cheer on brothers at World Cup
In many ways, Canadian soccer in general is a family. However, for two CPLers, the World Cup literally will be a family affair.
FC Supra captain David Choinière will watch his brother Mathieu play at a World Cup for the first time. The two have played against each other a number of times in the TELUS Canadian Championship, when David was at Forge FC and Mathieu was at CF Montréal. Now, the Choinière family will be united behind Canada.
Similarly, Inter Toronto head coach Mauro Eustáquio will be watching as his brother Stephen takes to the field for Canada. Stephen Eustáquio was part of Canada's World Cup squad in Qatar four years ago, and he'll be a critical piece in midfield once again this time around.
