Two stadiums in Canada are being used to host the 2026 World Cup: BC Place and BMO Field. The huge ex-pat Portuguese community will be hoping the Seleção qualify and play their matches there, where they are sure to receive terrific support.
BC Place
BC Place is a venue that’s hosted a huge range of sporting events in the past. This includes football, baseball, rugby, and several Canadian football matches. It’s also home to the MLS team, the Vancouver Whitecaps. The average attendance last year was 25,293, and when you look at the architecture of it, it’s easy to see that it is very similar to that of the AT&T stadium. There is a screen above the pitch, so fans can watch replays of the action regardless of where they are sat. Innovations like this were put into place in 2011, along with the retractable roof.
BMO Field
BMO Field is one of the smallest stadiums to host the World Cup. The Canadian venue is the home ground for the MLS team Toronto FC. The stadium, due to its size, is set to undergo an expansion. The total number of seats is going to hit 17,756 by 2026, which will help to take Canadian football to the next level. The stadium also needs to undergo renovations so that it meets the stadium requirements needed to host the matches set in place by FIFA. This isn’t the first time that the stadium has undergone renovations. The roof that covers three sides of the venue was built over two years, between 2014 and 2016.
Why not the Olympic Stadium?
The Olympic Stadium hosted several tournament matches for the FIFA Women’s World Cup. One huge game happened in 2015, with the United States versus Germany in a semi-final match. This drew a crowd of over 51,000 people. Even though the Olympic stadium was one of the top choices to host the matches this year, as it has a retractable roof, Montreal withdrew from the selection process. Although this stadium was the most suited, it seems that their withdrawal has helped other top stadiums across Canada to come into the spotlight. Stadiums like BMO Field are still categorised as world-class and amongst the largest stadiums in Canada. BC Place is also known for being very versatile, and after the latest improvements, it’s now the perfect fit for the matches set to take place.
Match attendance in Canada
According to match data, BMO Field saw capacity numbers hit 30,991 in 2024. A lot of the hype of Canadian football comes down to football culture in general. Some of the world’s top football players have come out of Canada, including Owen Hargreaves. He was born in Calgary but went on to play for Manchester United. Julian De Guzman is also a legend of Canada, with fans recognizing him as being the first player from Canada to play in La Liga. Football in Canada has been steadily growing for some time, not to mention that it is constantly being represented in the media, which is helping to fuel its growing popularity.
In Canada, fans can watch documentaries devoted to the success of Canadian football, including Heart of Goal: The Rise of Canadian Soccer. You also have several Ontario slots, which include Football Studio and Football Star. Fantasy football is also very common with Canadians, as fans rush to trade and sign new players in an attempt to keep up with the latest fixtures, injuries, and top-performing players. With Canada now being the host of two World Cup matches, it’s not surprising to see the popularity of the sport rocket even more, leading to a spike in interest, along with many exciting stadium developments.
So as you can see, Canadian football is well and truly on the rise right now. The stadiums hosting the matches are being improved to accommodate the boom in fans while being catered to meet FIFA requirements. This could have a long-term impact on Canadian football as a whole, something which will benefit both the country and the sport.
