Can soccer eventually overtake hockey in Canada ?
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IslesNorway
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- Apr 20, 2016
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It would be pretty tough to do, consider most of the country can't play soccer half of the year. I could see it suprassing both Football and Basketball in popularity. It's one of the cheapest sports to get youth into, there's always been a strong youth presence, just a void after that.
Dipsy Doodle
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- May 28, 2006
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Not unless climate change makes the country better suited to soccer than hockey.
WTG
December 5th
dahrougem2
Registered User
Absolutely. There are already double the amount of kids playing soccer compared to playing hockey because of how much cheaper it is. Hell, basketball is catching up to hockey as well and will probably surpass it quite easily moving forward based on the number of kids participating.
Hockey is just way too expensive in Canada and not worth it when the cost of living is so high. Nowadays you need both parents working full time if you want to have multiple children and live in a decent sized home unless one of the parents is killing it financially.
Hockey is just way too expensive in Canada and not worth it when the cost of living is so high. Nowadays you need both parents working full time if you want to have multiple children and live in a decent sized home unless one of the parents is killing it financially.
Its already happening. More young kids care about Davies than Mcdavid at least on the west coast. Hockey will remain huge due to its cultural value similar to Football in the US. US football is proof that participation declines don't change the cultural value.
Adrianopolous
Registered User
Hockey is too niche, soccer has universal appeal. I think Canadians are gradually starting to lose interest in hockey to be honest.
Pavel Buchnevich
Drury and Laviolette Must Go
It will, but that’s 40 or 50 years away. It’s probably 30 years away in the USA. Football is the world’s sport and the more the populations change towards people that come from countries and cultures where football is the sport, the more you’ll see Canadians choose football. You simply aren’t going to get a large percentage of Croats or Ivorian immigrants whose children pick up hockey over football.
Basketball is the bigger threat. At entry level's sure Soccer will grow. But, most major North American cities don't care about professional sports unless it's best on best. Yes, they'll support MLS teams, but they won't have the cultural relevance that the Raptors or Leafs do.
Canadiens Ghost
Mr. Objectivity
With the increase in dives in the last 10 years, I would say soccer has already taken over.
cg98
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- Oct 10, 2017
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Pretty sure futbol here in Canada already has more registered players than hockey. The question is about development, from grassroots to pros. The Canadian Premier League is a very good start to grow the game here professionally and domestically for younger players. Part of the problem for Canadian and US futbol is that scouts only ever cater to kids in high end academy clubs, if they can get over that issue then grassroots development will go further for the players.
Jacob
as seen on TV
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MapleLeafs94
So then I said...
- Nov 18, 2016
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It's definitely possible. When I was younger, before I even had a say in the matter, I was on a soccer field at about the age of 5-6. I'm sure my parents intent being keeping me active and building social skills regardless of my enjoyment in the sport.
Around the age of 8-9 I asked if I could play hockey and without any hesitancy they agreed.
My dad played hockey when he was younger and watched Leafs games religiously, he also hated Soccer and described it as a "sport for pansies" , and despite all this by default they just committed me to soccer for a physical activity as a kid. I'm sure the cost playing in comparison to the other being the main factor.
Point being the cost and accessibility of Soccer even in Canada is very attractive for parents looking for recreational fun for their young ones. Would not surprise me to see it surpass hockey at some point in popularity although not anytime soon.
Around the age of 8-9 I asked if I could play hockey and without any hesitancy they agreed.
My dad played hockey when he was younger and watched Leafs games religiously, he also hated Soccer and described it as a "sport for pansies" , and despite all this by default they just committed me to soccer for a physical activity as a kid. I'm sure the cost playing in comparison to the other being the main factor.
Point being the cost and accessibility of Soccer even in Canada is very attractive for parents looking for recreational fun for their young ones. Would not surprise me to see it surpass hockey at some point in popularity although not anytime soon.
JPeeper
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- Jan 4, 2015
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You hit the nail on the head. When it comes to kids playing sports, way more play Soccer or Basketball compared to Hockey in Canada. It's just way easier/cheaper to get kids playing those sports opposed to hockey.
Canada is still putting out the best players in the world in hockey (McDavid and now Bedard and Wright the next two years among countless others) and America is cranking out a lot more top talent than every before so the game of hockey is growing, but not at the same rate as the others.
The climate argument several people make here is probably wrong considering other colder northern countries have soccer as their 1# sport (e.g. Sweden, Russia, Iceland). There are probably other factors that are more important than climate. Not going to answer OP questions since I'm not canadian. Just wanted to respond to the 'climate too cold' replies.
Akrapovince
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- May 19, 2017
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I won’t say never, but I don’t see it happening anytime soon. I’m going to define overtaking as; given the choice between a hockey game or a soccer game, the majority of Canadians would go to a soccer game.
As of right now, the country itself isn’t producing as many elite talents for us to cheer for, and the few that we have produced we cannot retain in our country because of lack of elite competition. Makes it hard for me to cheer for a player when he’s not playing on his own soil, and it’s hard for me to cheer for a team that doesn’t have a good on field product.
The obvious flaw in the line of thinking above is Russia, Sweden, Finland being huge hockey countries despite their players mainly playing in North America.
I might be in the minority, but Edmonton had a stellar Lacrosse club and despite it being Canada’s national sport and playing very well, I never got into it. Mind you, they literally won the championship and drafted first overall at the draft.. If Lacrosse couldn’t do it, I find it hard to see soccer doing it.
As of right now, the country itself isn’t producing as many elite talents for us to cheer for, and the few that we have produced we cannot retain in our country because of lack of elite competition. Makes it hard for me to cheer for a player when he’s not playing on his own soil, and it’s hard for me to cheer for a team that doesn’t have a good on field product.
The obvious flaw in the line of thinking above is Russia, Sweden, Finland being huge hockey countries despite their players mainly playing in North America.
I might be in the minority, but Edmonton had a stellar Lacrosse club and despite it being Canada’s national sport and playing very well, I never got into it. Mind you, they literally won the championship and drafted first overall at the draft.. If Lacrosse couldn’t do it, I find it hard to see soccer doing it.
cg98
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Lacrosse never had and never will have the marketing power that soccer has though, which is a huge issue in this country for soccer as well.
Alphonso Davies is one of the best left backs in the world, and has a bigger following than any hockey player including McDavid. Jonathan David is leading Ligue 1 scoring in France, and has 1 less goal than Mbappe, Neymar, AND Messi combined. Cyle Larin is the leading goal scorer across ALL confederations for World Cup qualifying. Canada has never had this kind of star power for mens soccer, and these guys with the current World Cup qualifying campaign and upcoming World Cup in 2026 will grow the game here exponentially.
The problem is that the TV companies here, would rather bundle TSN, Sportsnet, and CBC showing the same 3 or 4 hockey games occurring on their channels, and charge additonal fees for subscriptions to Euro sport channels. Argentina and Portugal fans don't need to do that to watch Messi and Ronaldo play. It's terrible marketing for what could be the golden generation of Canadian men's soccer.
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peconcan
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EdJovanovski
#RempeForCalder
I’m Gen Z who lives on the West Coast and I have no idea who “Davies” is lol
Mickey Marner
Registered User
Over here in the states in the 1970's they said there was going be to an ice age and soccer would overtake baseball or football in ten or twenty years. Neither has happened.
Hockey is Canada's pastime sport and it won't happen.
The real reason the people from Central America want to come to North America is for economic reasons.
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