Canadian Premier League commissioner Mark Noonan joined TSN’s FIFA World Cup coverage in Qatar on Thursday to chat with host Lindsay Hamilton about the state of soccer in Canada prior to the men’s national team’s final match at the 2022 World Cup.

“We’re just at the beginning of the journey,” Noonan said. “The men’s team qualified — not just qualified, but qualified as the top team in Concacaf, above the USA and above Mexico. That alone is an incredible achievement… They’ve shown that Canada is a soccer nation.”

Noonan went on to discuss the future of the Canadian Premier League and its growth, pointing out that the league has just completed its fourth season and nonetheless has seen incredible growth. He stated that the vision is for the CPL to eventually blossom into a top-10 league in the world, though added that it will take a while to get there.

He also used the example of Joel Waterman, a former Cavalry FC player who’s now in Canada’s World Cup squad in Qatar, to highlight the value of the CPL in the Canadian soccer ecosystem.

“The CPL is going to be the launching pad for a lot of these great players,” Noonan said. “Joel Waterman, what a story. He was playing in U SPORTS four years ago, got drafted to the CPL, came through the CPL, and now is playing on the world’s biggest stage.

“What we do at the CPL is we create opportunity, not just for players but for referees, for administrators, for communities to have a team in their backyard that they can attach themselves and engage themselves to and get excited and inspired by for the next generation of kids.”

To see commissioner Noonan’s full interview on TSN, click here.