In Canada, soccer is the most popular sport in terms of participation rate. According to FIFA's Big Count, almost 2.7 million people played in Canada in 2006. Professional soccer in Canada is played in the Canadian Premier League and Major League Soccer. Canada also has many semi-professional and amateur soccer leagues. Canada's men's and women's national soccer teams are ranked 33rd and 6th respectively in the FIFA World Rankings as of February 10, 2022.
Jean-Pierre Papin is a French football manager and former professional player who played as a forward and is the current technical advisor of French Ligue 1 side Marseille. Considered to be one of the best centre-forwards of his generation, he won the Ballon d'Or in 1991.
Olivier Yohan Dacourt is a French former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is also a former French international and is best known for his spells at English side Leeds United and Italian clubs Roma and Inter Milan.
Grenoble Foot 38, commonly referred to as simply Grenoble or GF38, is a French association football club based in Grenoble. The club plays its home matches at the Stade des Alpes, a sports complex based in the heart of the city, and wears white and blue.
Clermont Foot 63 is a French professional football club based in Clermont-Ferrand, France. As of the 2023–24 season, it competes in Ligue 1. The first incarnation of the club was formed in 1911 and the current club was created in 1990 as a result of a merger.
Michael David Wilson is a New Zealand retired soccer midfielder who most recently played for the Ecuadorian club Aucas. Wilson played college soccer at Stanford University and represented New Zealand at the international level.
Sita-Taty Matondo is a Congolese-born Canadian former soccer player who played the majority of his career in Quebec with clubs in the Ligue de Soccer Elite Quebec, USL A-League/First Division, and Canadian Soccer League. He also played abroad in the Superettan, and represented Canada at the international level.
Jérémy Toulalan is a French former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder, but was also utilized as a central defender. He is best known for his humble demeanor, simple distribution, good technique and effective tackling.
Cristian Adolfo Nuñez López is a Canadian former professional soccer player.
Massimo Di Ioia is a Canadian former soccer player. Di Ioia was part of the Canadian National Under 20 team and Olympic Under 23 team. He played the majority of his career in the Canadian province of Quebec with notable stints in the Ligue de Soccer Elite Quebec, USL First Division, Canadian Soccer League, and the Première Ligue de soccer du Québec.
Hosni Abd Rabbo Abdul Muttalib Ibrahim is an Egyptian footballer manager and a former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder.
The United States U-20 women's national soccer team is a youth soccer team operated under the auspices of U.S. Soccer. Its primary role is the development of players in preparation for the senior women's national team. The team most recently appeared in the 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup in France, where they failed to progress from the group stage for the first time in the competition's history. The team competes in a variety of competitions, including the biennial FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, which is the top competition for this age group.
Pierre-Rudolph Mayard, commonly known as Papouche, is a Canadian soccer player who plays as a forward for AS Blainville in the Première Ligue de soccer du Québec.
Yacine Nasreddine Brahimi is a professional footballer who plays for and captains the Qatari club Al-Gharafa and the Algeria national team. He plays as an attacking midfielder and a winger and is described as "technically gifted". Yacine is also known for his "Brahimi Moments".
The Québec official soccer team is the official soccer team representing the Canadian province of Québec. The stated mission of the team is "...to allow Québec to be represented at the international level to share our language, our culture and heritage through soccer." Originally, the team was not sanctioned by the Quebec Soccer Federation as the federation was suspended by the Canadian Soccer Association in June 2013 for not allowing players wearing turbans for religious reasons to participate in matches. However, the team communicated with the federation and regularly communicated the progress of the project to build a relationship in preparation for being sanctioned in the future. In May 2014, it was announced that the team had officially become associated with the QSF and were working together to perhaps eventually become a member of CONCACAF and play against other national teams. Québec is not a member of FIFA or any confederation or subconfederation as they are wholly a part of Canada. However, Québec is an official member of the Confederation of Independent Football Associations (ConIFA), a global umbrella organization for national football teams outside FIFA. Usually in Québec, the majority of the population speak French, while English is the largest minority. Although the purpose of the team is said to be cultural, not political, the team is partially funded by the Saint-Jean-Baptiste Society and Parti Québécois, a Canadian political party that advocates the Québec sovereignty movement. The team was formed in 2013 and played its first match against a Tibet select team in the 2013 International Peoples, Cultures, and Tribes Tournament, an event hosted by Marseille as the 2013 European Capital of Culture, on 24 June 2013. Québec won the match 21–0. The team currently consists mostly of players from the Première Ligue de soccer du Québec and former Montreal Impact players. They are currently coached by former Canadian international Patrick Leduc.
The RC Strasbourg Alsace Academy, officially the Racing Mutest Académie, is the youth academy of French football club RC Strasbourg Alsace. It was founded in 1972.
Nicolas Lesage is a Gabonese retired footballer who played as a striker. He played at international level with the Quebec national soccer team.
Jean-Louis Bessé is an Ivorian retired footballer who played as a forward. He played at the international level with the Quebec national soccer team.
Club de Soccer Saint-Laurent is a Canadian semi-professional soccer club based in Saint-Laurent, Quebec that plays in Ligue1 Québec.
Olivier Frapolli is a French professional football manager and former player who currently manages Laval.
