Kyle Bekker has been the face and lightning rod of Forge FC; he’s been the face of the Canadian Premier League. He and Chris Nanco were the first players signed by The Hammers, months before the CPL made its debut. And for eight years he has been captain of the most successful team in league history.
and one of the most accomplished pro teams in this country—four league titles, six straight trips to the finals, the first CPL team to play international games, the first to make it to the Concacaf Champions Cup, a berth in this month’s Canadian Championship final game.
Bekker has had a 14-year pro career for seven teams in four leagues and has played for the national team. And he’s been a finalist for CPL Player of the Year six times, winning it in 2020. He was the first CPLer to appear in 100 games; he plays a full two-way game with staunch defence and ranks No. 2 in CPL career assists and eighth in goal contributions. And under his unrelenting captaincy, Forge went 20 straight games in 2025 without a loss, shattering the prior record of 14. He has been named to the league team of the week countless times and has been not only the pillar of his own franchise, but he’s been the most consistent, recognizable presence in the league.
On Thursday, Bekker announced what only his family and Forge’s upper management had known for the past few months: this was going to be his final season of playing. We sat down with him for an in-depth discussion with him about his career, and that full podcast is available Friday at
But in Q & A form, here are some highlights of that illuminating conversation.
Q: Right off the top, you announced on Thursday that you will be retiring from the pitch, as of now. You had a season-ending knee injury in mid-September, but before that, in April you revealed you had been diagnosed with testicular cancer.
In the interest of education and awareness, you were very public about the diagnosis and subsequent treatment.
That’s a horrible double-whammy, but you told us you want to emphasize that those two setbacks are not connected to your retirement. You had already decided before this season that it would be your last one.
KB: ”When you zoom out and look at it, for those who know me the timing is the funniest thing. I've never been on the right side of timing in my career. But earlier this year, leading up to our run in Concacaf (February’s Champions Cup), I had a sit-down with Coach Bobby and Scott Mitchell, and I basically floated the idea that I was thinking this was going to be the last run.
And the end of that week is when I got diagnosed with cancer. So, it was a funny conversation. Then fast-forward to a few weeks ago, and I had kind of come to peace with the decision. And after battling through everything, getting back to a good spot and just wanting to enjoy the rest of the season and make that final push, I just wanted to bring it back up. So, we had another meeting and then less than a week later, I blow my knee up.
“But the decision had finally been made. I'm not retiring because of the injury. It was already done. Obviously, it's an unfortunate reality, but for those who are involved in this game, for those who are involved in sport, they know it's part of the deal. It happened for me at 36, but it could have happened at 26, 21, whatever, and it's been a good run.”
Q: I know it’s early days in this new part of your life, but do you have a long-range plan about what you’d like to do? I’ve watched you for eight-plus years talking to everybody, at every level, in the Forge organization and throughout the CPL. It looked very much like research into what possible paths are out there for you.
KB: "Absolutely. I mean, I've been passionate about this game since I started playing it, since I fell in love with it. To date, I've dedicated my entire life to it, and I don't see why that should stop. I want to be involved in it. As you grow with this game, as you get introduced to more facets of it, you understand that there are so many different avenues you can go in. When you're young and playing, you have your dream of being a player. You dream of that career and everything that comes with it, and you also start to see the coaching side of it. And when you're young, you think that's maybe the only progression. But the nature of it is the ecosystem that it takes to run a league, to run a club, all of it. There's so many different avenues.
“I love the sport. I want to continue to grow it. I want to continue to grow it here in Hamilton, across the country, whatever my role might be. I'm passionate about it.”
Q: You’ve used the term ‘ecosystem’ to describe the difference that the founding of the CPL has made to Canadian soccer. It was still 10 years away when you had finished playing for Bobby and Costa Smyrniotis at Sigma FC and went on to a brilliant four years at Boston College, which resulted in you being chosen 3rd overall by Toronto FC on the 2013 MLS SuperDraft. CPL officials emphasize that the ecosystem includes not only jobs for well over 200 Canadian players but also thousands of full- and part-time jobs for coaches, athletic trainers, soccer operations management, marketers, ticket sellers, concession workers.
KB: “Correct. It’s incredible. That foundation of the ecosystem simply didn't exist back then. My story is not the most unique. It was more so just the reality, the harsh reality, of what it is to be a professional. It's perseverance. It's going at it time and time again. It's getting knocked down. It's not always beautiful, but you have to have that reason why you show up. And I've been very fortunate my whole life to have an undying passion for this game, to keep me going. And I knew that I wanted to play regardless of what it looked like. I needed to find a way. And that's the thing that pushed me forward. And I know that's going to push me forward now that my playing days are done.”
Q: You’re from a Dutch family—so it’s appropriate you became the leader of a team whose predominant colour is orange—and grew up in Oakville playing soccer for great youth teams in Oakville and Dixie and won provincial cups, the genesis of a career that saw your teams win at least one title in almost every league you’ve played in. Oakville is a good soccer town but better known for its hockey culture.
KB: “I grew up playing for Oakville Blue Stars, and from an early age we just won everything. We had an unbelievable coach in Phil Lafrate who taught us what it meant to show up and work hard. He ingrained that in us. It wasn't technical; it wasn't tactical. But his undying passion was something I think that we just picked up on from a very early age. We had guys who had talent and an incredible work ethic to go out and do something.
“I think that, in and of itself, is why I fell in love with this game. Soccer has this unique ability to balance the individual expression—going out and doing something that's so crazy that leaves people with their jaws on the floor—and the ability for a group to come together and achieve something. That, to me, is what it's all about. It’s being a part of that community, that common bond that you have when you put on the jersey; you support that team.
“It's everything, that feeling. I remember going to my very first EPL game and watching Manchester United at Old Trafford. I am an Arsenal fan, but you're there, and you see it, and being a Canadian kid, being in that environment and seeing a goal chance about to be created, the collective stadium sits right up. It’s like there’s this eruption and everyone is locked in on the same thing. It’s like, ‘Holy, there's this many people who have the same thing that I have… I'm not standing out on my own.’ Especially being Canadian at that time when we all knew the NHL, but soccer was foreign. And you find that that ignites the passion.
“So then there's the next step: You come back from that, and you want more. You push more. You realize that there are kids who do this every single day, not just three, four or five times a week. They live and breathe it; it's non-stop. And that gives you that newfound passion. You want to be that one, and you want to bring people along with you. Because the reality was that, at that time, there was no clear pathway.”
Q: Let’s look at YOUR pathway then. Was there a moment when you realized ‘wow, I can play this game?’ Or was it gradual?
KB: “The nature of who I am as a person is inherently shy, especially when I was young. I was never the biggest, was never the fastest, was never the loudest in the room. When I was really young, probably until about 13, 14, there was this self-belief, this confidence, and success in soccer. And then you start to kind of get punched around a little bit and it wavers. Other kids grow, there's that physical discrepancy. And things start changing in terms of provincial teams, national teams, whatever it may be, and things are happening where you start to doubt yourself a little bit.
“And I think that's good because early on it showed me that I had the ability to persevere. I had the ability to be resilient.”
Q: It's paid off in your captaincy, too, that experience gathered in youth soccer, all-star career at Boston College, then the pro ranks: two seasons at Toronto FC; transfer to Dallas FC; trade to the Montréal Impact where you spent a couple of years; a crazy year in San Francisco that culminated in an NASL championship but with the team and league folding right after that season; a year in the USL playing for North Carolina FC; and the next year gambling on a new team and a new league with Forge FC. There were also 18 caps over five years for the men’s senior national team. And a major through-line in all of that was Sigma FC, owned by Bobby and Costa Smyrniotis.
KB: “I was about 14 or 15 when I got introduced to Bobby, and yeah, it was at the perfect time because, as I said, I was in that first wave that I had felt in soccer, where maybe I wasn't having as much fun doing it. Maybe I started to let a little bit of self-doubt creep in. And it was this bright light in terms of someone who could put into words all the stuff that I sort of see and feel in the game, and the technical and tactical side of things that I just simply wasn't getting.
“The game was very physical at that time, and that's just not how I played it. And I wasn't going to go out and dribble an entire team one-on-one. So, it was about how do you get the collective to work a certain way? How do you use the ball to be faster? All these little things.
When I started to get that sort of training, it really opened my eyes, and it gave me that breath of fresh air that I needed at that time. And Sigma was just starting to be a thing. We eventually got into the Ontario Soccer League, and it was a group of 16-17-year-olds playing against men who had a lot of talent but had to work at other jobs for a living.”
Q: And Sigma led to a dream come true for a teenager of your heritage. Ajax, one of the top programs in Europe, gave you a trial.
KB: “We did a tour of Belgium and Holland, and it went well. I stayed for a little training period with them after everyone else went home. And then they said I’d be staying with them. It was another one of those moments where you get that belief, that confidence. I was 16 and thought my life was going to change. I left school, moved to Holland and was immersed in an environment that just eats, sleeps and breathes it. It's a factory, almost. It was a little shorter than I would have liked because of the classic visa issues. That’s a story heard time and time again in soccer, so I'm no different in that regard. It just came to a point where a decision had to be made, and unfortunately, I had to return home. And that's just the reality of it. So, I went the college route.”
Q: Let’s jump ahead—and again, a reminder that you can see and hear our full 40-minute discussion here—to 2018, when your agent calls you and says there’s a new league starting in Canada. Was it a hard sell to get you to become the first high-profile player to commit to the CPL?
KB: “I don’t think it took very much. There was obviously the idea of coming back to Canada to help build the game, and being able to work with Bobby again was exciting for sure. I wanted to be a part of something that's bigger than myself. And the reason I play this game is to be a part of that, to have that feeling. And you get that in a team. But this was just so much bigger, right?
“It's the sport that we love. It's the sport that so many of these people who are passionate, who are involved in this game, know through and through, but it's the chance to get your hands in the mud and do it from day one, build it from scratch. And that doesn't happen too often.
“And then you're rolling the dice. You have no idea what it's going to be. I had just been part of a team that existed for a year, and it folded and the league folded. So in the back of my head, I'm like, ‘I'm chucking my career down the drain right here.’
“But it wasn't until that I was invited to Hamilton to a Ticat game and introduced to Scott Mitchell, Bob Young, Doug Rye, Matt Afinec and that whole ownership group that I actually began to see the people who were behind this and how this was for real. This wasn’t a pipe dream.
“Our fans are so supportive and passionate. The one thing that sticks out is the very first time we did an appearance here in Hamilton at a restaurant, and the number of people who turned out! And they’d never even seen us kick a ball. We were introduced at a Ticat game, and it felt like we were on the precipice of something here.
“So, there was no fear in the back of your head. It was more how do I be a part of this? What is the role that I'm going to play? How can I deliver on my end to make sure that you guys still want to keep putting more and more into this for that next generation?”
Q: And for eight years, you’ve put more and more into it, and Forge FC is now firmly embedded in the next generation. Thanks for your time, Kyle Bekker, and, more importantly, thanks for what you’ve done—and will continue to do, I’m sure—for soccer in this city, this league and this country. And we know we’ll be talking to you many times again