Toronto Athletic FC Academy was recently featured on the opening of the official FIFA World Cup opening video on TSN. We are extremely proud of our club including our staff and youth for all of the time and effort they’ve spent during training and development. Although Canada will now be exiting the World Cup, we couldn’t be more proud of our national team and the impression that they’ve left on the world’s biggest stage. We are also really impressed with how far Canadian soccer has come in recent years and feel honoured to have played a role in its expansion. Of course the last and only other time Canada qualified for the world cup was in 1986 and it has taken almost 40 years for our country to get back on that stage. In light of Canada’s growth in soccer we want to take the time to discuss exactly why soccer has become the fastest growing sport in the nation.
The Growth of Domestic Sports Teams
One of the biggest reasons that soccer is growing at such a fast rate is because of our Major League Soccer teams. They have helped generate interest in the sport and their players act as an inspiration to young Canadians that are pursuing it. Canada now has 3 MLS teams starting with Toronto FC which was introduced in 2007, the Vancouver Whitecaps in 2009 and FC Montreal in 2012. The clubs draw hundreds of thousands of live attendees every year. The largest of the three in Toronto FC drew an average of 25,280 attendees in 2022 and ranks as the 5th most valuable franchise in the MLS. One of the most telling moments of the growth of soccer came in 2016 when Toronto FC competed in the league’s eastern conference finals. During this run, they received never before seen media coverage and set record breaking numbers for viewership. The success of the MLS teams and the growing demand for soccer eventually led Canada to start its own Canadian Premier League in 2017.
Alphonso Davies and Christine Sinclair
When it comes to a sport growing within a country, oftentimes it just takes 1-2 faces for people to rally behind. Think of former NBA all-star Yao Ming and the impact he had on basketball in China. China is a country with a population of 1.4 billion and the most popular sports league within the country is the NBA, in large part because of Yao Ming and his influence. In the same way, young stars such as Alphonso Davies and Christine Sinclair have brought a new wave of inspiration to Canadians. Whereas before young Canadians were discouraged from pursuing soccer because of lack of representation at the highest stage internationally, now kids feel like it’s possible to be the next great Canadian soccer player.
Affordability
The biggest sport in Canada is still ice hockey and this will likely never change. But when you compare the cost of playing hockey to the cost of playing soccer, there is a reason why many parents are choosing to enroll their kids into soccer. A 2019 Scotiabank survey found that Canadians spend an average of $500-$1000 on hockey equipment per year per child. In soccer, the only equipment parents need to buy is shin pads, cleats and a ball which costs between $60-$300 dollars. With hockey being the most expensive sport and soccer not even cracking the top 10, it’s no wonder why many parents are going with soccer instead. Not only is soccer cheaper to play, but it’s also cheaper to watch compared to ice hockey. Toronto FC’s average ticket cost in 2019 was just $37. This is a significant difference compared to the average cost of $49 to watch the Mississauga Steelheads, one of the GTA’s OHL teams. The difference becomes even more notable when considering the OHL is a minor league and the MLS is the largest professional league in all of North America.
The growth of soccer in Canada has been amazing to see. Moving forward, we hope that our academy can continue to create further growth and allow kids to learn valuable life skills through the game of soccer. We hope to continue to develop and train kids to have the tools to be the best soccer players that they can be. To learn more about our academy and our upcoming programs, click on the button below.
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