Alphonso Davies reflects on Canada's meteoric rise in FIFA ranking
When Edmonton’s Alphonso Davies made his debut for the Canadian men’s national team at the 2017 Gold Cup, Canada was ranked 108th in the world out of 210 national teams.
The program sat behind countries such as Kazakhstan, India, Eswatini and the Faroe Islands — a self-governing nation with a population that’s smaller than Fort McMurray, Alta.
Less than a decade later, Canada entered the 2026 FIFA World Cup ranked 30th in the world, ahead of Russia, Sweden, and Chile, plus remains one of the favourites to advance from Group B on home soil.
Of course, soccer is a team game, and the transformation of the Canadian men’s national team hasn’t happened because of one player alone, but Davies has been a massive part of it.
Alphonso Davies has played in 58 matches for Canada since making his debut in 2017. (Jessica Alcheh/Imagn Images)
Eleven of Davies’s 24 teammates on Canada’s 2017 Gold Cup roster were playing professionally in Canada. Now, the majority of Canada’s squad plays overseas in some of the world’s top leagues.
Only four players from that 2017 squad remain on Canada’s 2026 World Cup roster: Maxime Crépeau, Jonathan Osorio, Cyle Larin and, of course, Davies.
When asked about the growth Davies has seen over his nine years with the Canadian men’s national team program, he says, “it’s crazy.”
“When I first joined the national team, most guys were playing in MLS,” Davies told Daily Hive. “Now, we have most of the team playing overseas and a lot of young talent joining our program.”
The Bayern Munich star said he’s been most impressed by how much the team has developed in the last four years.
He pointed to rising talents such as 22-year-old defenders Niko Sigur and Nathan Saliba as examples of the program’s growing depth.
“Those players, I did not know them before they joined the national team,” Davies said. “Both guys are outstanding and have an impressive work ethic. They show out.”
Four years ago in Qatar, Davies was in similar shoes to Saliba and Sigur. Young, with a lot of talent and promise, scored Canada’s first-ever goal at a men’s FIFA World Cup.
“It was truly special,” Davies reflected.
Alphonso Davies celebrates scoring Canada’s first FIFA World Cup goal in Qatar. (Yukihito Taguchi/USA TODAY Sports)
Now, with Canada hosting the tournament for the first time, he’s hoping there are even bigger moments ahead. The only question is whether he’ll be available to play in Canada’s opening match against Bosnia and Herzegovina in Toronto.
Davies has not made an appearance for Canada since March 2025 and has spent much of the past year recovering from an ACL and meniscus injury. He returned to action with Bayern Munich in December and has struggled with hamstring injuries since.
“It hasn’t been the year I wanted it to be, but at the end of the day, there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, for sure,” he said. “Playing in a FIFA World Cup is what I always dreamed of as a kid, and I need to keep pushing and fighting to recover.”
Even if he isn’t ready for Canada’s first match, Davies said he’ll continue doing everything possible to get himself ready for matches later in the tournament.
“I’ll leave the tough decisions up to the coach,” Davies said. “Whoever starts, whoever plays, we’re a team.”
What Davies knows for certain is that the team will need Canadian soccer fans to show up and make Toronto and Vancouver hard for opposing teams.
“You know, it doesn’t matter who we are playing,” Davies said. “We just want them to be so loud that we can’t even hear each other on the pitch.”