{"id":731884,"date":"2026-06-12T11:52:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T11:52:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/731884\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T11:52:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T11:52:19","slug":"fifa-world-cup-why-brampton-has-so-many-soccer-players","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/731884\/","title":{"rendered":"FIFA World Cup: Why Brampton has so many soccer players"},"content":{"rendered":"

On a rainy Thursday night in late March, the atrium of Brampton City Hall was abuzz. <\/p>\n

Holding soccer balls and sporting their red-and-white jerseys, excited children cheered and clapped as Atiba Hutchinson, Doneil Henry, Cyle Larin, Liam Millar, Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty, Jonathan Osorio, Tajon Buchanan, Junior Hoilett and Paul Stalteri arrived for the evening\u2019s festivities.<\/p>\n

\"\"Brampton soccer Brampton-raised Canada’s men’s soccer players pose for a photo during a March 26, 2026, event. (Bryann Aguilar\/CP24) <\/p>\n

It was a raucous welcome for Canada\u2019s former and current male soccer players. Their families were also in the crowd, beaming with pride. <\/p>\n

The March 26 event was a homecoming for the players. It was on the school grounds and soccer fields of Brampton that they dreamed as young boys of one day representing Canada on the sport\u2019s global stage. <\/p>\n

As Canada gets set to open up its World Cup campaign on home soil this afternoon, no other city has nearly as much representation in the national team as Brampton. So much so that, according to local officials<\/a>, Brampton has been recognized as the \u201csoccer city\u201d of the country. <\/p>\n

\u201cI remember when I first joined the team, and the guys asked me where I was from, and I said, Brampton. And the first thing they said to me was, \u2018Oh, not another one,\u2019\u201d recounted Millar, who played his first match with the national team in 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so, you know, there were so many guys from this team who\u2019ve been at Brampton. That\u2019s a real identity of our team.\u202fI think it really brings in the family culture of our team, where we\u2019re from, because we\u2019re such a family-orientated city.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Everybody was always wanting to play soccer when I was a kid\u2019: Millar Soccer player Liam Millar discusses why he thinks growing up in Brampton gave him a strong start in the sport. <\/p>\n

There are at least 10 active players on the men\u2019s national soccer team<\/a> who trace their beginnings to the green turfs of Brampton. Six of them\u2014Buchanan, Millar, Larin, Osorio, Promise David and Jayden Nelson\u2014will wear the red and white on the World Cup pitch.<\/p>\n

Asked about how a city of nearly 800,000 people just northwest of Toronto can account for nearly a quarter of Canada\u2019s World Cup roster, Millar shared that growing up, \u201cthere was always a soccer ball.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWe just had that soccer first mentality when I was here. So, I think that really made me and probably a couple other guys just really lock in and play soccer more than playing other sports,\u202fand I felt like that was a big difference,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s my biggest memory from when I was here, and I think that\u2019s the biggest difference.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"\"Liam Millar FILE – Canada midfielder Liam Millar competes during an international friendly soccer match against Mexico Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo\/Tony Gutierrez) <\/p>\n

The 26-year-old midfielder currently plays professional soccer for Hull City in the English Football League Championship, which is one level below the Premier League. <\/p>\n

Millar, who was born in Toronto, started playing soccer at the age of four for the Brampton Youth SC, where most of his fellow teammates got their start. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhether you\u2019re playing at your local park or you\u2019re\u202fplaying at your school, it seems like everybody was always wanting to play soccer when I was\u202fa kid, where I feel like in some parts of Canada, that just wasn\u2019t the case,\u201d said Millar, who spent some of his time playing on the soccer pitch at Creditview Sandalwood Park. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt didn\u2019t matter what you looked like. Everyone was always involved playing soccer. Everyone was always doing everything.\u201d <\/p>\n

Millar, who lived about two minutes away from downtown Brampton before moving to England for an opportunity with the Fulham Academy,<\/a> said he will always be proud to tell others where he\u2019s from. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very open and honest that I\u2019m from Brampton,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, I\u2019m very open and honest. All the guys are, too.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u2018Big dreams can start\u2019 in Brampton: former captain <\/p>\n

For former men\u2019s soccer captain Hutchison, who is now retired after playing for two decades, Brampton was where he fell in love with the game. <\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up here, I never imagined that one day I would have the chance to play in a World Cup, and that Canada would one day host the World Cup. And now, not only are we hosting it, we have a national team that truly believes we can go far,\u201d the six-time Canada\u2019s men\u2019s player of the year remarked at the March 26 event, garnering him cheers from the crowd. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt shows every young player in this city that big dreams can start right here on the same fields and parks we all grew up on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Brampton soccer event Atiba Hutchinson (left) signs a soccer ball during an event in Brampton on March 26, 2026. (Bryann Aguilar\/CP24) <\/p>\n

Hutchison was one of the players Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty looked up to as he started playing soccer. <\/p>\n

He hopes to inspire other Brampton kids to pursue their dreams, just as Hutchison did for him. <\/p>\n

In Marshall-Rutty\u2019s view, players like Hutchison and Stalteri helped build the foundation in Brampton. Those two are part of why Brampton continues to produce soccer players for Team Canada, Marshall-Rutty said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not just Brampton. It\u2019s Canada as a whole, you know. You see so many talented players coming through, and I think we\u2019re finally showing the world that we\u2019re pretty good at soccer as well,\u201d the 21-year-old said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just our turn now to kind of, you know, carry it on. So, yeah, it\u2019s going good.\u201d <\/p>\n

Marshall-Rutty played his first match for the national team in a friendly in January. He currently plays as defender for the New York Red Bulls in Major League Soccer.<\/p>\n

He credited his coach and several Brampton soccer clubs for helping him get his start in the sport. Marshall-Rutty played other sports before deciding to stick with soccer. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think that the level when I was a kid\u202fand the way they pushed me kind of set me up for kind of where I am today.\u202fSo, yeah, I\u2019m so, so grateful for what Brampton as a whole gave me,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u2018We\u2019re finally showing the world that we\u2019re pretty good at soccer\u2019: Marshall-Rutty Soccer player Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty discusses why growing up in Brampton set him up \u2018for the next step\u2019 in the sport. <\/p>\n

Marshall-Rutty is glad to see that the city continues to invest in soccer facilities and keep growing the sport, which, he said, could lead to the discovery of more potential players. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s definitely talented kids in the city,\u202fso just kind of giving them the opportunity,\u202fwhether that\u2019s building more fields, making better facilities,\u201d he said. \u201cI think we\u2019re going in the right direction.\u202fI think just giving more kids opportunities from wherever they are in Brampton, I think, is going to be key for our country.\u201d <\/p>\n

Brampton boasts 133 outdoor soccer fields, three year-round indoor turf fields, and four seasonal indoor turf fields. <\/p>\n

Marshall-Rutty and Millar hopes the events planned by the city during the World Cup will encourage children in Brampton to keep playing soccer. <\/p>\n

\u201cI always try to look back at moments in my life where I made a big difference,\u202fwhere I met people, and I feel like this could be a moment for some of the young kids when\u202fthey meet us, and maybe one day some of these kids will play with us. So, it\u2019s been great\u202fto see them, and it definitely makes me think about my own journey,\u201d Millar said. <\/p>\n

\"\"Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty FILE – New York Red Bulls defender Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty (3) controls the ball during an MLS soccer match against Orlando City, Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026, in Orlando, Fla. (AP Photo\/Phelan M. Ebenhack) <\/p>\n

The Canadian men, who lost all group stage matches in 2022, will kick off their campaign in Toronto at 3 p.m. against Bosnia and Herzegovina. They will then face Qatar and Switzerland in Vancouver. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re ready, focused, and calm,\u201d Marshall-Rutty said back in March. \u201cWe\u2019re going to show the world what we can do.\u201d <\/p>\n

Millar added, \u201cWe\u2019re ready to take on anyone who comes at us.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On a rainy Thursday night in late March, the atrium of Brampton City Hall was abuzz. Holding soccer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":731885,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[712,49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-731884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=731884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/731884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/731885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=731884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=731884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=731884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}