Canada’s men’s national soccer team could be considering former English international Frank Lampard to be its manager, according to a story on Saturday by The Daily Telegraph.
“The Canadian football federation have placed Lampard on a shortlist of coaches to take over and lead the national team into the 2026 World Cup, which they are co-hosting,” writes football correspondent Matt Law.
Lampard, 45, had an extensive club career in England’s Premier League, making 429 appearances with Chelsea, in addition to stints with West Ham and Manchester City, before a late run in Major League Soccer with NYCFC. The former midfielder also represented his country at the senior level on 106 occasions.
His managerial experience is less extensive. His first job was with Championship side Derby County in 2018, which was quickly followed by a return to Chelsea as the man in charge in 2019. Things did not go as well as planned, with Lampard lasting just 18 months. A year later, he was brought in to help struggling Everton in January of 2021, where he helped the club avoid relegation, but was sacked within a year. His last job was in a caretaker role back at Chelsea, which was for just 11 games last spring.
Lampard’s W-D-L managerial record is 81-44-71. He has no experience at the international level.
“As we’ve said publicly in recent updates, these searches are confidential, and we are not commenting on the validity of this or any other rumours. When there is news to report, you will hear it directly from us,” said Canada Soccer spokesperson Paulo Senra.
Interim manager Mauro Biello has been running Canada’s men’s program since John Herdman stepped down a year ago in order to take over at Toronto FC. The men’s team recently qualified for this summer’s Copa América, which will see them play Chile, Peru, and World Cup champion Argentina in June. Before that, the CMNT will play a friendly against the Netherlands, with another warmup match against France rumoured to be in the works.
Canada will co-host the 2026 men’s World Cup with the U.S. and Mexico, with games at BMO Field in Toronto and BC Place in Vancouver.
