The Canada Men's National Football Team represent

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

in Senior Men's international

gridiron football Gridiron football ( ),"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica'' ...

competitions. It is managed by the Team Canada National Men's Football Society under the supervision and governance of

Football Canada Football Canada is the governing body for 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 Canadia ...

. It is recognized by the

International Federation of American Football The International Federation of American Football (IFAF) is the international governing body of American football associations. The IFAF oversees the organisation and promotion of all international competitions across both contact and non conta ...

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

Canadian football Canadian football, or simply football, is a Sports in Canada, sport in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete on a field long and wide, attempting to advance a Ball (gridiron football), pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposi ...

; however, IFAF-sponsored games are played using

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

rules. The team 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 F ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

. The 2025–26 Senior Men's is fielding a team for the IFAF World Championships. A North American qualifier against Team Mexico in Mexico City was tentatively scheduled for February in cooperation with the Mexican American Football Association (FMFA) and IFAF. However, the FMFA opted not to host or travel to Canada. As a result, Team Canada is the only active national team from North America. Canada scheduled an international friendly against Italy in

Cagliari Cagliari (, , ; ; ; Latin: ''Caralis'') is an Comune, Italian municipality and the capital and largest city of the island of Sardinia, an Regions of Italy#Autonomous regions with special statute, autonomous region of Italy. It has about 146,62 ...

, Sardinia, Italy, on 19 April 2025. Canada won 56–0. It was IFAF's first intercontinental men's tackle game played since the 2015 world championship, a span of nearly 10 years. After the game, Coach Jesse Maddox stated that he was ready to bring Canada back to Europe to face the European Champion later in the year. Since the 2011 senior event, Canada's flagship men's tackle program is the

Canada national football junior team The Canada National Football Junior Team a.k.a. the Football Canada World Junior Team represent Canada in international gridiron football competitions. The football program is part of the football development program and is co ...

, an elite U20 developmental program that participates in the IFAF U-19 World Championship, which was a biennial championship until 2020, then moved to a quadrennial event. The IFAF World Junior Football Tournament in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

, Alberta, in July 2024 was won by Canada for a third consecutive time, and the fourth overall. Canada is the most successful team at the WJFC. In addition to the 2024 world championship, 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 in international competition. They won the 2016 championship in China, then defended their championship with a 2018 title in Mexico. The 2020 tournament was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

History

became a full member of the

IFAF The International Federation of American Football (IFAF) is the international governing body of American football associations. The IFAF oversees the organisation and promotion of all international competitions across both contact and non conta ...

in 2004. Thereafter Canada competed in international junior,

flag A flag is a piece of textile, fabric (most often rectangular) with distinctive colours and design. It is used as a symbol, a signalling device, or for decoration. The term ''flag'' is also used to refer to the graphic design employed, and fla ...

, and

women's football Women's football most often refers to: * Women's association football Women's football may also refer to: * Women's gridiron football * Women's Australian rules football * Ladies' Gaelic football * Women's rugby league * Women's rugby union ...

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 2011 IFAF World Championship was the fourth instance of the IFAF World Championship, an international American football tournament. It began on July 8, 2011 with the final games commencing on July 16. It was hosted by Austria, with games taki ...

. The team's head coach was

Larry Haylor Larry Haylor (September 29, 1945 – 6 January 2022) was a Canadian university football coach. Career Haylor was born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, and attended the University of Saskatchewan where he played on the football team. He was also ...

, the former head coach of the

Western Ontario Mustangs The Western Mustangs are the athletic teams that represent Western University in London, Ontario, Canada. The school's athletic program supports 46 varsity teams. Their mascot is a Mustang named J.W. and the school colours are purple and white. ...

, who retired from the program as the winningest coach in the history of

U Sports football U Sports football is the highest level of amateur play of Canadian football and operates under the auspices of U Sports, Canada's governing body for university sports. Twenty-seven teams from Canadian universities are divided into four athleti ...

. Unlike the US national team, active professional players are allowed to participate, and a handful of

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

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 Gridiron football ( ),"Gridiron football"
''Encyclopædia Britannica'' ...

American football in Canada American football teams in Canada 2011 establishments in Canada American football teams established in 2011 National sports teams established in 2011