8 Canadian soccer players now play in Europe's 'big five' leagues
If you happen to find yourself travelling around Europe anytime soon, it won’t take you too long to find a Canadian soccer player.
With a hat tip to the folks running Canucks Abroad, there are currently 44 Canadian men’s soccer players playing for a European top-flight league this season.
(It’d be quite the list if we got into all of them, but there are hundreds of other players with Canadian heritage and/or national team eligibility scattered throughout the lower tiers of professional soccer throughout Europe in the Canucks Abroad database.)
That includes players like the currently injured Alphonso Davies, who stars for Germany’s Bayern Munich, as well as new signing Jonathan David, playing for Italian club Juventus.
It should be noted that not all professional leagues in Europe are created equal. For example, Daniel Jebbison, Liam Millar, and Iké Ugbo are all Canadian national team regulars, but didn’t crack this list due to their clubs being in the second-tier English Championship.
Surrey native Lennon Thompson, however, does make the list, despite his Maltese league ranking 46th out of 55 officially registered UEFA leagues.
Meanwhile, 11 Canadians will have a shot to lift a European trophy, with five players playing in the Champions League (Alphonso Davies, Jonathan David, Promise David, Tajon Buchanan, Tani Oluwaseyi) and Europa League (Alistair Johnston, Stephen Eustaquio, Cyle Larin, Moise Bombito, Derek Cornelius), as well as Theo Bair in the Conference League.
Canadian soccer players in Europe’s top-five leagues
Eight Canadians currently compete in Europe’s top-five leagues: Premier League (England), Bundesliga (Germany), La Liga (Spain), Serie A (Italy), and Ligue 1 (France).
Germany
- Alphonso Davies (FC Bayern München)
Italy
- Jonathan David (Juventus FC)
- Ismaël Koné (US Sassuolo)
Spain
- Tajon Buchanan (Villarreal CF)
- Tani Oluwaseyi (Villarreal CF)
France
- Moïse Bombito (OGC Nice)
England
- Luca Koleosho (Burnley FC)
- Tom McGill (Brighton and Hove Albion FC)
Canadians in other European leagues
Notable players on this list include Canadian national team regulars like Stephen Eustáquio (Portugal), Cyle Larin (Netherlands), Alistair Johnston (Scotland), Promise David (Belgium), and Niko Sigur (Croatia).
Belgium
- Promise David (Royale Union Saint-Gilloise)
- Luc De Fougerolles (FCV Dender EH)
Bulgaria
- Ilias Iliadis (PFC Montana)
- Ali Aruna (PFC Septemvri Sofia)
- Marsel Bibishkov (PFC Septemvri Sofia)
Croatia
- Nikola Ćurčija (NK Osijek)
- Jovan Ivanisevic (NK Istra 1961)
- Niko Sigur (Hajduk Split)
Estonia
- Alexander Bergman (Harju JK Laagri)
- Cristian Campagna(JK Narva Trans)
- Habib Famuditimi (JK Tallinna Kalev)
- Zachary Sukunda (JK Tallinna Kalev)
- Armaan Wilson (Seinäjoen Jalkapallokerho)
Iceland
- William Tønning (KA Akureyri)
Malta
- Lennon Thompson (Gzira United)
Netherlands
- Charles-Andréas Brym (NAC Breda)
- Cyle Larin (Feyenoord Rotterdam)
Norway
- Patrick Metcalfe (Fredrikstad FK)
- Simon Thomas (Tromsø IL)
Poland
- Antoni Klukowski (Widzew Łódź)
- Dominick Zator (Arka Gdynia)
Portugal
- Stephen Eustáquio (FC Porto)
- Trayvon Fuller (CD Tondela)
Romania
- Mark Țuțu (UTA Arad)
- Andrei Dumitru (FC Botoșani)
Scotland
- Scott Arfield (Falkirk FC)
- Derek Cornelius (Rangers FC)
- Junior Hoilett (Hibernian FC)
- Alistair Johnston (Celtic FC)
- Ethan Schilte-Brown (Kilmarnock FC)
Sweden
- Matteo de Brienne (GAIS)
- Marcus Godinho (Degerfors IF)
Switzerland
- Theo Bair (FC Lausanne-Sport)
- Zachary Brault-Guillard (FC Lugano)
- Ayo Akinola (FC Vaduz)
- Lucas Pos (Yverdon Sport FC)
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