Canada men's national under-20 soccer team

The Canada U-20 men's national soccer team (also known as Canada Under-20s or Canada U-20s) represents Canada in international soccer at this age level. They are overseen by the Canadian Soccer Association, the governing body for soccer in Canada.

Canada Under-20
Nickname(s)The Canucks
Les Rouges (The Reds)
AssociationCanadian Soccer Association
ConfederationCONCACAF (North America)
Head coachAndrew Olivieri
Most capsDavid Edgar (27)
Top scorerIain Hume (7)
FIFA codeCAN
First colours
Second colours
First international
 Nicaragua 1–1 Canada 
(Puebla, Mexico; February 20, 1973)
Biggest win
 Canada 9–0 Dominican Republic 
(Tegucigalpa, Honduras; November 26, 1978)
Biggest defeat
 United States 5–0 Canada 
(Sunrise, Florida, United States; December 18, 2010)
 Cameroon 5–0 Canada 
(Niamey, Niger; December 6, 2005)
 Niger 6–1 Canada 
(Niamey, Niger; December 8, 2005)[citation needed]
FIFA U-20 World Cup
Appearances8 (first in 1979)
Best resultQuarter-finals (2003)
CONCACAF Under-20 Championship
Appearances24 (first in 1973)
Best resultChampions (1986, 1996)

It plays a large role in the development of Canadian soccer, and is considered to be the feeder team for the Canada men's national soccer team. The team has qualified for eight out of nineteen FIFA U-20 World Cups. Their best result came in 2003 where they reached the quarterfinals.

The team also competes in the CONCACAF U-20 Championship, which they won in 1986 and 1996.

Canada's most significant accomplishments at youth level are winning the CONCACAF U-20 Championship and Francophone Games twice, reaching quarterfinals of the 2003 FIFA U-20 World Cup, and defeating Brazil U-20 2-1 in a friendly on May 19, 2006, at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta.

Team history edit

1976–1996 edit

Canada's Under-20 soccer team was created in 1976 as Canada's response to the newly created World youth Championship. The team failed to qualify for the inaugural tournament in 1977 in Tunisia, but they qualified for the following tournament two years later in Japan. They finished last in their group with two points, but they did manage to defeat Portugal 3–1. The next time the team qualified for a World youth Championship was in 1985, in the USSR, again they came last in their group with only one point. In the 1987 WYC in Chile, Canada's Under-20 soccer team put up a good effort scoring four goals, and tying Italy, however they still did not manage to get out of the group stage.

1997–2004 edit

In 1997, after failing to qualify for four World Youth Championships (as the event was known until 2005) in a row, Canada made it past the group stage. The team progressed to the second round after a 2–1 win against Hungary in which a young Dwayne De Rosario scored a goal. They lost the round of 16 game against Spain 2–0. After missing the tournament in 1999, Canada qualified for Argentina 2001 after winning the qualifying tournament based on home soil in Vancouver, British Columbia. At the finals, they finished last and were eliminated from a group including Brazil, Germany and Iraq.

Canada once again appeared in the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship in United Arab Emirates. They qualified to the round of 16 where they blanked Burkina Faso 1–0, and in a rematch against 1997 conquerors Spain, Canada lost in the quarter-finals. Iain Hume scored three goals for Canada including a direct free kick against Spain while Atiba Hutchinson was an impressive performer in midfield.

2005–present edit

At the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championships in the Netherlands, Canada were eliminated in the group stage after tying once and losing twice. One bright side of the tournament was Jaime Peters' and Marcel De Jong's goals.

In the build-up to the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup, as the tournament came to be known, Canada's defeated Brazil in the first game of a three-game series, winning 2- in front of 14 000+ at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton on May 19, 2006. David Edgar and Will Johnson scored and Stephen Lumley made goal-line clearance to preserve Canada's first win over a Brazilian men's team at any level. Canada lost the remaining two matches 3–1. Despite an impressive run in friendlies leading up to the competition, Canada went winless in first round play without scoring a goal on home soil.

Coaching history edit

Caretaker managers are listed in italics.

Fixtures and recent results edit

The following is a list of match results from the previous 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.[1][2]

  Win   Draw   Loss

2024 edit

February 23 2024 Concacaf U-20 Qualifiers Group D Canada   8–0   Dominica Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
16:00 (15:00 EST)
Report Stadium: Hasely Crawford Stadium
Referee: Kimbell Ward (Saint Kitts and Nevis)

Players edit

Current squad edit

The following 21 players were called up for 2024 CONCACAF U20 Championship qualifying.[3]

Caps and goals as of February 27, 2024, after the match against Trinidad and Tobago.

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1 1GK Grégoire Świderski (2005-10-05) October 5, 2005 (age 18) 2 0   Bordeaux
16 1GK Ivan Pavela (2005-03-03) March 3, 2005 (age 19) 1 0   Hajduk Split
18 1GK Nathaniel Abraham (2007-04-23) April 23, 2007 (age 16) 0 0   Toronto FC

2 2DF Theo Rigopoulos (2006-10-29) October 29, 2006 (age 17) 2 0   Toronto FC II
3 2DF Christian Greco-Taylor (2005-02-20) February 20, 2005 (age 19) 3 0   Pacific FC
5 2DF Sergei Kozlovskiy (2008-06-18) June 18, 2008 (age 15) 2 2   CF Montréal
6 2DF Lazar Stefanovic (2006-10-08) October 8, 2006 (age 17) 3 0   Toronto FC II
12 2DF James Cameron (2005-01-24) January 24, 2005 (age 19) 3 0   Vancouver FC
14 2DF Ethan Schilte-Brown (2005-06-01) June 1, 2005 (age 18) 3 0   Kilmarnock
15 2DF Adam Pearlman (2005-04-05) April 5, 2005 (age 18) 2 0   Toronto FC

4 3MF Alessandro Biello (2005-07-20) July 20, 2005 (age 18) 3 1   CF Montréal
7 3MF Tiago Codinha (2006-04-07) April 7, 2006 (age 17) 2 0   Twente
8 3MF Jeevan Badwal (2006-03-11) March 11, 2006 (age 18) 2 0   Whitecaps FC 2
10 3MF Jessé Costa (captain) (2005-04-28) April 28, 2005 (age 18) 7 1   VfL Wolfsburg
13 3MF Matteo Schiavoni (2005-04-09) April 9, 2005 (age 18) 2 0   Forge FC
21 3MF Myles Morgan (2005-06-20) June 20, 2005 (age 18) 2 4 Unattached

9 4FW Oumar Diallo (2005-02-27) February 27, 2005 (age 19) 3 0   Inter Milan
11 4FW Kimani Stewart-Baynes (2005-01-17) January 17, 2005 (age 19) 3 0   Colorado Rapids
17 4FW Kevaughn Tavernier (2006-02-24) February 24, 2006 (age 18) 2 2   Forge FC
19 4FW Tavio Ciccarelli (2005-02-16) February 16, 2005 (age 19) 2 3   Sheffield United
20 4FW Santiago López (2005-06-10) June 10, 2005 (age 18) 3 3   UNAM

Recent call-ups edit

The following players have previously been called up to the U-20 team, and are still eligible to play for Canada in the current U-20 World Cup cycle.

Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up


DF Luc de Fougerolles (2005-10-12) October 12, 2005 (age 18) 0 0   Fulham 2022 CONCACAF U20 ChampionshipPRE
DF Joshua Gordon (2005-07-24) July 24, 2005 (age 18) 0 0   University of Kentucky 2022 CONCACAF U20 ChampionshipPRE
DF Kundai Mawoko (2005-02-11) February 11, 2005 (age 19) 0 0   Toronto FC II 2022 CONCACAF U20 ChampionshipPRE

FW Mataeo Bunbury (2005-06-13) June 13, 2005 (age 18) 1 0   Columbus Crew 2 2022 CONCACAF U20 ChampionshipPRE

  • ALT = Alternate player
  • INJ = Injured player
  • PRE = Preliminary squad

Previous Canada U-20 squads edit

Competitive record edit

FIFA U-20 World Cup edit

U-20 World Cup record
Year Result Position Pld W D L GF GA
  1977 did not qualify
  1979 Group stage 13th of 16 3 1 0 2 3 5
  1981 did not qualify
  1983
  1985 Group stage 14th of 16 3 0 1 2 0 7
  1987 Group stage 12th of 16 3 0 2 1 4 5
  1989 did not qualify
  1991
  1993
  1995
  1997 Round of 16 13th of 24 4 1 1 2 3 5
  1999 did not qualify
  2001 Group stage 24th of 24 3 0 0 3 0 9
  2003 Quarter-finals 8th of 24 5 2 0 3 4 6
  2005 Group stage 21st of 24 3 0 1 2 2 7
  2007 Group stage 24th of 24 3 0 0 3 0 6
  2009 did not qualify
  2011
  2013
  2015
  2017
  2019
  2021 Cancelled
  2023 did not qualify
  2025 to be determined
Total Quarter-finals 8/24 27 4 5 18 16 50

CONCACAF U-20 Championship edit

CONCACAF U-20 Championship record
Year Result Position Pld W D L GF GA
  1962 did not enter
  1964
  1970
  1973 Fourth place 4th of 6 4 0 1 3 2 6
  1974 Quarter-finals 4th of 12 4 3 1 0 13 4
  1976 Second round 5th of 15 6 2 1 3 14 13
  1978 Runner-up 2nd of 13 7 3 1 3 16 4
  1980 Semi-finals 4th of 18 5 2 3 0 6 2
  1982 Second round 5th of 12 5 2 1 2 10 8
  1984 Runner-up 2nd of 16 8 4 3 1 13 4
  1986 Champions 1st of 10 7 6 1 0 23 2
  1988 Group stage 6th of 10 4 1 1 2 4 4
  1990 Group stage 5th of 12 2 1 1 0 1 0
  1992 Third place 3rd of 11 5 3 1 1 12 6
  1994 Third place 3rd of 12 6 3 0 3 18 10
  1996 Champions 1st of 12 5 4 1 0 10 2
   1998 Group stage 6th of 8 3 1 0 2 4 7
   2001 Group stage 3rd of 8 3 2 1 0 2 0
   2003 Group stage 2nd of 8 3 2 1 0 5 2
   2005 Group stage 2nd of 8 3 3 0 0 4 1
   2007 did not enter
  2009 Group stage 5th of 8 3 1 0 2 3 3
  2011 Quarter-finals 7th of 12 3 1 0 2 2 7
  2013 Quarter-finals 6th of 12 3 1 0 2 8 7
  2015 Group stage 9th of 12 5 1 0 4 8 11
  2017 Group stage 9th of 12 3 1 0 2 2 6
  2018 Group stage 5 3 0 2 10 6
  2020 Cancelled
  2022 Round of 16 4 1 2 1 7 4
Total 2 Titles 24/28 106 51 20 35 197 119

Jeux de la Francophonie edit

Jeux de la Francophonie record
Year Result Position Pld W D L GF GA
  1989 Gold medal 1st of 10 4 3 1 0 9 3
  1994 Group stage 5th of 9 2 1 0 1 6 5
  1997 Gold medal 1st of 10 5 2 2 1 3 2
  2001 Quarter-finals 6th of 12 4 1 1 2 4 7
  2005 Group stage 12th of 12 3 0 0 3 1 13
  2009 Fourth place 4th of 9 4 1 1 2 4 9
  2013 Group stage 10th of 14 3 1 0 2 3 7
  2017 Group stage 7th of 16 3 2 0 1 3 4
Total 2 Titles 8/8 28 11 5 12 33 50

Honours edit

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ "Draw reveals groups for 2024 Concacaf U-20 Qualifiers". CONCACAF. October 11, 2023. Archived from the original on October 11, 2023. Retrieved December 17, 2023.
  2. ^ "CONCACAF Under-20 Championship - Match Schedule" (PDF). CONCACAF. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 11, 2023. Retrieved December 17, 2023.
  3. ^ "Canada's Roster for the 2024 Concacaf Men's U-20 Championship Qualifiers Released". Canadian Soccer Association. June 10, 2022. Retrieved June 10, 2022.

External links edit