Canada’s men’s national team played their first FIFA World Cup™ game on home soil at Toronto Stadium on 12 June
Canadian venue staged five group games and the Round of 32 tie between Croatia and Portugal
Ten different teams representing four confederations featured at Toronto Stadium
Canada’s unprecedented run to the knockout stages of the FIFA World Cup 2026™ began with an historic first FIFA World Cup™ game on home soil at the Toronto Stadium.
A capacity crowd of over 43,000 packed into the venue – the vast majority clad in the maple-leaf embossed red shirts of the co-hosts – as Jesse Marsch’s team opened their Group B account with a 1-1 draw against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“I have to thank the crowd,” said Marsch in his post-match press conference having seen his team come from behind to claim a first FIFA World Cup point. “The crowd willed us into the game, and as they could feel the energy tilting in the second half, they were more and more on the edge of their seats. The place erupted when we got the goal.”
The engrossing 90 minutes were preceded by a spectacular opening ceremony that saw Canadian musical icons Michael Bublé and Alanis Morissette perform. The latter was joined by the crowd in singing that national anthem, ‘O Canada’, as the teams lined up around the centre circle before kick-off with Canada becoming the 19th host nation in the tournament’s 96-year history.
Alessia Cara, Jessie Reyez and Elyanna also performed while actor and Toronto’s FIFA World Cup Ambassador Will Arnett gave a heartfelt speech to the crowd, which included two more Canadian Hollywood superstars in Ryan Reynolds and Mike Myers.
Toronto’s large Ghanaian diaspora came out in force for the Group L match-up with Panama, whose own vociferous and colourful fans left disappointed as a late goal secured the Black Stars all three points.
The German community living on the shores of Lake Ontario was swelled by Cologne-born NHL star Leon Draisaitl and actress Stephanie Beatriz, whose family has German roots, for the 2014 champions’ Group E game with Côte d’Ivoire. They faced an anxious wait before substitute Deniz Undav came off the bench to score twice to secure a 2-1 come-from-behind win.
History would virtually repeat itself for Panama when they returned to Toronto and left with a 1-0 defeat to Croatia, a game which saw the tournament’s total attendance pass the three million mark. Among the crowd was FIFA President Gianni Infantino, and he was joined by the Prime Minister of Croatia Andrej Plenković and Canada’s Minister of Finance François-Philippe Champagne, to celebrate the 200th international appearance of Luka Modrić.
After Senegal’s 5-0 defeat of Iraq – who were supported by an impressive number of fans, all in their country’s white and green shirt – Modrić would return to Toronto for the Round of 32 game against Portugal.
In that game, Cristiano Ronaldo, aged 41 years and 147 days, became the oldest outfield player to play in a FIFA World Cup knockout match and, with Modrić also playing, it was the first time that two outfield players over 40 had faced each other in the tournament’s history. Ronaldo scored his 11th FIFA World Cup goal and his first in a knockout stage match as his team came from behind to win 2-1, delighting a large contingent of Portuguese fans.
The crowd of 43,036 took the total attendance for Toronto’s games to over a quarter of a million fans at 258,088. They witnessed a total of 15 goals, an average of 2.5 goals per game.
Though the remainder of the tournament will be played out elsewhere, Toronto’s Fan Festival – located in Fort York and under The Bentway that bisects the centre of the city – will remain open until the FIFA World Cup 2026 final on 19 July.