The past 12 months proved to be a wild ride for Canadian soccer.
The women’s team became embroiled in a drone-spying scandal at the Paris Olympics, and overcame a six-point deduction in the group stage before bowing out in the quarterfinals, failing to reach the medal podium for the first time since 2008.
The men’s side fared much better under new coach Jesse Marsch by reaching the semifinals and finishing in fourth place in its tournament debut at the Copa América, where it twice pushed Lionel Messi and World Cup champions Argentina to the brink.
Internationally, Real Madrid enjoyed a banner year by breezing to the La Liga title, winning the Spanish Super Cup and claiming its record 15th UEFA Champions League crown by defeating Borussia Dortmund in the final at London’s Wembley Stadium.
What will next year bring? Here are four bold predictions for 2025:
Jonathan David moves to Paris Saint-Germain
Jonathan David is one of the hottest players in world soccer right now. The Canadian forward has plundered 101 goals in 209 appearances for French club LOSC Lille since his transfer from Belgian side Gent in 2020.
David, a 24-year-old from Ottawa, currently ranks as the top scorer in France’s top division with 11 goals, and overall, he’s scored 17 times while tallying five assists in 26 appearances for Lille across all competitions during the 2024-25 season. Four of his goals have come in the UEFA Champions League, including strikes against European heavyweights Real Madrid and Juventus, and a brace against Atlético Madrid.
“He’s maybe one of the hottest strikers in Europe right now, he seems to score every match. He’s dangerous every match, sets up goals, he’s a complete player,” Canadian men’s team coach Jesse Marsch said.
David is out of contract at Lille at the end of this season, and it’s a given that he’s going to leave the French team for greener pastures. Some of the top clubs across Europe are already lining up to try to secure the Canadian as a free agent this summer, including Manchester City, FC Barcelona, Inter Milan and Bayern Munich.
But rather than venture out, David will stay in Ligue 1 and sign with Paris Saint-Germain, who never replaced Kylian Mbappé when he moved to Real Madrid on a free transfer this summer. PSG has won three consecutive French league titles (and eight in the last 10 years), but is still trying to take the next step in its evolution by winning the Champions League for the first time. Look for the Parisian club to throw a bundle of money at David and convince him to continue his club career in France.
Carmelina Moscato named new coach of Canadian women’s team
The Canadian women’s team has been without a full-time coach since becoming embroiled in the drone controversy at this summer’s Paris Olympics. Former head coach Bev Priestman was sent home for her role in the spying scandal and was subsequently slapped with a one-year ban by FIFA before Canada Soccer confirmed in November she wouldn’t be back once she served her suspension.
Interim coaches have overseen the Canadian women’s team since the Olympics, but now is the time for Canada Soccer to hire a full-time replacement for Priestman, who famously guided Les Rouges to a gold medal at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
It’s been nearly 30 years since a Canadian-born coach has taken charge of the women’s team. Since Sylvie Béliveau’s run ended in 1995, the Canadian women’s side has had six different coaches, and none of them were born in Canada.
But that streak will end in 2025 with the appointment of Carmelina Moscato, a 40-year-old from Mississauga, Ont. The former defender earned 94 caps for Canada from 2002 to 2015, becoming one of the team’s most trusted players while competing at three FIFA World Cups, and winning a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics.
Since retiring as a player, Moscato served as coach and assistant with Canada’s under-15 and under-20 teams. She was also hired by Danish outfit FC Nordsjælland (her first head coaching gig at club level) and became the technical director and head coach of Tigres UANL, one of the biggest teams in Mexico’s top division. Moscato is currently an assistant coach with Racing Louisville FC of the NWSL, and will try her hand in the international game in 2025 when she is hired as the new coach of the Canadian women’s team.
Canadian men’s team wins Concacaf Nations League and Gold Cup
2024 was a banner year for the Canadian men’s team. New coach Jesse Marsch hit the ground running by guiding them to a fourth-place finish at the Copa América, where the team held its own against the best nations in South America, including World Cup champions Argentina and Uruguay.
The Canadians kept the momentum going after the Copa. They went unbeaten in five games (four wins) in all competitions, earned their first victory over the United States on American soil since 195, and finished the year at No. 38 in the FIFA world rankings. A two-legged aggregate win over Suriname in November allowed Canada to advance to the finals of the Concacaf Nations League in March and to qualify for next summer’s Gold Cup.
The Canadian men’s team has only won one major tournament in its history. In 2000, Les Rouges stunned the Concacaf region when it came out on top by defeating Colombia in the Gold Cup final. Twenty-five years later, the Canadians will come good again.
Riding the tidal wave of momentum it’s on right now, Canada will cement its growing reputation as the best national team in the Concacaf region by winning both the Nations League and Gold Cup in 2025.
Manchester City fails to qualify for Champions League
These are very interesting times for Manchester City. The four-time defending Premier League champions have just one win in their last 12 games in all competitions, a run of futility that is totally unprecedented during the Pep Guardiola era.
With just five points from their previous nine Premier League matches, the Citizens find themselves in seventh place in the English table, with such modest clubs as Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest looking down upon them. Losses to city rivals Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham have them fighting to climb up the table and get their season back on track after going unbeaten in their first nine contests of the campaign.
Guardiola’s side is 14 points adrift of table-toppers Liverpool at the halfway point of the season, so it looks almost certain that their reign atop the heap in the Premier League will come to an end this season.
The bad times will continue for Manchester City in 2025 as their freefall under Guardiola will continue on unabated. Not only will they not win a fifth straight Premier League title, but they’ll finish outside of the top five and fail to qualify for next season’s UEFA Champions League for the first time since the 2010-11 campaign.
Editor’s note
John Molinaro is one of the leading soccer journalists in Canada, having covered the game for over 25 years for several media outlets, including Sportsnet, CBC Sports and Sun Media. He is currently the editor-in-chief of TFC Republic, a website dedicated to in-depth coverage of Toronto FC and Canadian soccer.
