The Canada Men's National Football Team represent

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in Senior Men's international gridiron football competitions. It is governed and managed by

Football Canada Football Canada is the governing body for amateur gridiron football in Canada headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario. Football Canada focuses primarily its own Canadian form of the sport, and is currently the world's only national governing body for ...

and is recognized by the

International Federation of American Football The International Federation of American Football (IFAF) is the international governing body of gridiron associations. The IFAF oversees the IFAF World Championship of American Football, which is held every four years. The IFAF became a prov ...

(IFAF). Football Canada is the governing body for amateur

Canadian football Canadian football () is a sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's scoring area ( ...

, however, IFAF-sponsored games are played using

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

rules. They competed for their first and only

IFAF World Championship The IFAF World Championship of American Football (also known as the IFAF World Cup) is an international gridiron competition held every four years and contested by teams representing member nations. The competition is run by the International Fe ...

in 2011. There are currently no plans for Canada to field a senior men's team for the 2023 World Championships in Germany. Since the 2011 senior event, Canada's flagship men's tackle program is the Canada national football junior team, an elite U20 developmental program that participates in the International Federation of American Football (

IFAF The International Federation of American Football (IFAF) is the international governing body of gridiron associations. The IFAF oversees the IFAF World Championship of American Football, which is held every four years. The IFAF became a pro ...

) Under-19 World Championship, which was a biennial championship until 2020, then moved to a quadrennial event. The next IFAF World Junior Football Tournament is scheduled for Edmonton, Alberta in July 2024. Canada is the most successful team at the WJFC. They won the 2012 Under-19 championship, upsetting the favourite and host team, the United States, to give the US national team its first loss to date in international competition. They won the 2016 championship in China, then defended their championship with a 2018 title in Mexico. The 2020 tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

History

became a full member of the

in 2004. Thereafter Canada competed in international junior, flag, and women's football events. In 2011 it was announced that Canada would organize a senior men's team for international competition. They made their international debut at the 2011 IFAF World Cup. The team's head coach was Larry Haylor, the former head coach of the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames R ...

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who retired from the program as the winningest coach in the history of USPORTS football. Unlike the US national team, active professional players are allowed to participate, and a handful of

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

players participated on the national squad, although the fact that the CFL's season overlapped with the 2011 World Championship prevented most of the best non-import players in that league from participating.

IFAF World Championship record

References

{{IFAF Junior World Cup Men's national American football teams Gridiron football American football in Canada American football teams in Canada 2011 establishments in Canada American football teams established in 2011