The start of a new year is an opportunity for a fresh start for many people, or a chance to continue to grow on what you accomplished in the previous 12 months.
Both will be the case for the Canadian national teams this year as they embark on very different journeys. The men’s team will play two tournaments this year as they approach co-hosting the 2026 World Cup, while the women’s team won’t play any competitive matches in a transitional year to begin the next World Cup and Olympic cycle.
Here are five things that should be on the wishlists for both national teams in 2025.
5) Certainty in players’ club football situations
Transfer rumours can be a distraction for any player on the market, especially around tournaments like the ones the men’s national team will be playing this summer. With a number of players potentially looking to move on to new clubs this year, we can all hope the moves are seamless.
Jonathan David is front of mind, as he has been rumoured to be leaving Lille every transfer window for years. With his contract up in the summer, it seems likely that he will move either this January or in the summer for free, and there will be a number of top clubs fighting for his signature. Alphonso Davies is in a similar situation at Bayern Munich, while Tajon Buchanan and Stephen Eustáquio are also among the Canadian men reportedly receiving interest.
Clarissa Larisey has been linked with a move to several clubs in England this January, while Quinn left the Seattle Reign this winter and will also likely be in high demand. The most interesting name in the women’s national team setup though will be Jade Rose, as the young superstar defender is in her senior year at Harvard University and will likely transition into the professional game. Given her talent, she could probably pick from pretty much any club in the world to join, and will have a fascinating decision to make.
There are of course many players playing in the leagues, including the CPL, that will be looking to move up the footballing pyramid, as former Atlético Ottawa fullback Matteo de Brienne did this week as he looks to play himself onto the national team ahead of the 2026 World Cup on home soil.
4) Expanded player pools, and the addition of more dual-nationals
This year presents some great chances to expand the player pools and mix some exciting fresh talent into the national team picture.
The Canadian women will only be playing friendlies in 2025, so not using that chance to mix in some new players would be an opportunity wasted. With the start of the professional Northern Super League in 2025, there will be plenty of Canadian talent getting a chance to make a name for themselves on home soil, much like the Canadian Premier League has been doing for the men’s program since 2019. Both leagues serve as a pathway to develop the talent pools for the national teams at the professional level, and if they can both build on what the CPL has already achieved in such a short time, the future beyond this year is looking very bright as well.
There will also be opportunities to test out players that have been on the fringes of the national team. Kwasi Poku, who made his debut off the bench at the end of 2024 after a stellar year in the CPL and a move to Belgium, is an example of such a player. Lysianne Proulx, Jeneva Hernandez Gray and Nyah Rose are among the women’s national team players who made their debuts in 2024 and are looking to continue their development here in 2025.
Promise David, Luca Koleosho and Daniel Jebbison are among the exciting dual-national prospects that have long been rumoured to be on Canada’s radar, if Jesse Marsch can successfully lure them to the men’s program. The women’s team has successfully brought in several key dual-nationals over the past few years — including Simi Awujo, Sydney Collins, and most recently Megan Reid, and will undoubtedly be looking to continue that trend as well.
RISING STARS 🌟#CanMNT head coach Jesse Marsch points to #CanPL standouts Kwasi Poku and Shola Jimoh as examples of players who needed domestic opportunities in order to propel their careers for club and country 🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/MxlzSZlCQ2
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) January 9, 2025
3) Friendlies against tough opponents, preferably at home
Playing friendlies will be crucial for the development of both senior national teams in 2025.
The men won’t take part in World Cup qualifying for next year’s tournament after automatically getting a spot as a co-host. They will need to fill upcoming windows with friendly matches in order to make the most of the few times they have remaining together before the World Cup. With qualifying taking place across several federations that will be difficult, but playing as strong an opponent as possible — even if it’s the United States and Mexico again — is important.
The women won’t play a competitive match in 2025, so this year presents them with several opportunities to arrange friendlies to work on things with a new head coach (more on that in a minute) and integrate different players. This is primarily a transitional year between the last Olympic and World Cup cycle and the 2026 Concacaf W Championship, and continuing to find new challenges is important for a national team looking to take another step forward. The European Women’s Championship and Copa América Femenina are among the events on the calendar this year, meaning plenty of teams will be looking for strong warmup matches, which could be beneficial to the Canadians as well.
On the topic of friendlies, let’s try to host more of them on home soil if possible, especially ahead of playing at neutral sites abroad, as both teams did in 2024. Some nations will be willing to come to Canada for friendlies when they may not have previously, to get a feel for playing in North America ahead of the World Cup, and that should be taken advantage of.
2) A manager for the CanWNT, sooner rather than later
When Bev Priestman was suspended by Canada Soccer at the Olympics, and then banned for a year by FIFA shortly after, it seemed almost impossible that she would one day coach the Canadian women’s national team again. That exit was confirmed by Canada Soccer in November, and interim coaching staffs led the team into their three post-Olympic friendlies.
The search continues for a full-time head coach and staff, and it would be ideal to get the right candidate in sooner rather than later, with the February international window approaching. The team won’t play any competitive matches in 2025, so perhaps the hiring is less urgent than it would be closer to a major tournament, but this year also serves as a chance to try new players and systems, and start to rebuild the team in the lead-up to the 2027 Women’s World Cup and 2028 Olympic Games.
Interim head coach Andy Spence, who took over from Priestman at the Olympics and again in October for the friendly against Spain, missed the most recent camp, but a press release from Canada Soccer said he will return for the next window in February. Whether or not he is a candidate for the full-time position remains to be seen.
Canada Soccer nailed it with the hiring of men’s national team coach Jesse Marsch in 2024, even if that process took longer than expected. Now it is time they do the same for the women’s national team in this important transition year.
1) A first trophy for the CanMNT in a quarter-century
This year presents the men’s national team with two opportunities to win their first trophy since the 2000 Gold Cup.
Up first in March is the Concacaf Nations League Finals, where Canada will play Mexico in the semi-final with the winner advancing to play either the United States or Panama in the final. While the United States and Mexico are still above Canada in the FIFA rankings, Canada will go into the tournament with confidence after a big 2024 that saw them pick up results against all three of those other teams, and be the only one of them to advance from the 2024 Copa America group stage, making it all the way to the third place match where they took Uruguay to penalties. It is certainly Canada’s simplest path to a trophy this year, needing to win just two matches, but the United States have never lost this tournament, and will be hosting it once again as well, while Mexico and Panama are never easy to play against.
Canada will also have a chance to lift the Gold Cup again, and will be co-hosting it in 2025. Vancouver’s BC Place will be one of 14 stadiums to host matches, with the other 13 being in the United States. The draw and match allocation has not yet been revealed, but with BC Place and four others also hosting World Cup matches next summer, this tournament is also a trial run for welcoming the world to North America on a much larger scale.
The draw isn’t until April 10, but no matter who they are paired with, Canada will be looking to reach the knockout stages for the fifth edition in a row, and potentially make another deep run like they did when they reached the semi-finals in 2021.
