The Most Famous

SOCCER PLAYERS from Canada

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This page contains a list of the greatest Canadian Soccer Players. The pantheon dataset contains 21,273 Soccer Players, 46 of which were born in Canada. This makes Canada the birth place of the 60th most number of Soccer Players behind Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Honduras.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Canadian Soccer Players of all time. This list of famous Canadian Soccer Players is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Canadian Soccer Players.

Photo of John van 't Schip

1. John van 't Schip (b. 1963)

With an HPI of 52.74, John van 't Schip is the most famous Canadian Soccer Player.  His biography has been translated into 24 different languages on wikipedia.

Johannes Nicolaas "John" van 't Schip (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈdʑɔɱ vɑn ət ˈsxɪp]; born 30 December 1963) is a Dutch - Canadian football manager and former player who played as a winger, and was most recently the interim manager of Eredivisie club Ajax. Born in Canada, he played for the Netherlands national team for nine years. He spent his club career with Ajax, where they won four Eredivisie titles, a UEFA Cup and a European Cup Winners Cup, as well as Genoa. He was also a member of the Dutch side which won the 1988 European Championships. Van 't Schip started his managerial career at the Ajax Youth Academy, and his first senior managerial gig was with Twente. He previously was the manager of PEC Zwolle in his native Netherlands and Melbourne City in Australia among others. He managed Greece from 2019 to 2021. He was then appointed as the manager of Ajax in 2023.

Photo of Yassine Bounou

2. Yassine Bounou (b. 1991)

With an HPI of 48.73, Yassine Bounou is the 2nd most famous Canadian Soccer Player.  His biography has been translated into 43 different languages.

Yassine Bounou (Arabic: ياسين بونو, Berber languages: ⵢⴰⵙⵉⵏ ⴱⵓⵏⵓ; born 5 April 1991), also known as Bono, is a Moroccan professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Saudi Pro League club Al Hilal and the Morocco national team. Bono began his youth career in Morocco, playing for Wydad AC. He spent most of his senior career in Spain, making over 150 La Liga appearances, and over 50 in the Segunda División. He won the Zamora Trophy for the first time in the history of Sevilla FC. Born in Canada to Moroccan parents, Bono returned to Morocco at the age of two with his family. He has been a full international for Morocco since 2013. Having previously played for the under-23 team at the 2012 Olympics, he has represented his nation at two FIFA World Cup and four Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.

Photo of Owen Hargreaves

3. Owen Hargreaves (b. 1981)

With an HPI of 46.97, Owen Hargreaves is the 3rd most famous Canadian Soccer Player.  His biography has been translated into 52 different languages.

Owen Lee Hargreaves (born 20 January 1981) is a former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He was known as a hard-working and "solid defensive midfielder who worked tirelessly to win the ball" and provide his teammates with possession. He played with Calgary Foothills as a youth before beginning his professional football career in Germany with Bayern Munich. After seven years with the Munich side – during which time he won four German league titles and the 2000–01 UEFA Champions League – Hargreaves signed for Manchester United in 2007, winning the Premier League and UEFA Champions League in his first season. However, his time at Manchester United was thereafter plagued with injuries and he was allowed to leave the club at the end of his contract in June 2011. Hargreaves posted YouTube videos in a bid to convince potential suitors of his fitness, and in August 2011, Manchester City offered Hargreaves a one-year contract, which he accepted, but he was released at the end of the season after just four appearances for the club. As a Canadian citizen with a Welsh mother and an English father, Hargreaves was eligible to represent Canada, Wales or England. Hargreaves initially played for Wales, and was capped three times for the Wales under-19 team, but then opted to play for the England under-21 team in 2000 and was capped by the senior squad the following year. He is the only player to have played for England without having previously lived in England, and only the second, after Joe Baker, to have done so without having previously played in the English football league system.

Photo of Tom Taylor

4. Tom Taylor (1880 - 1945)

With an HPI of 45.58, Tom Taylor is the 4th most famous Canadian Soccer Player.  His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Thomas Sylvester Taylor (4 December 1880 – 15 August 1945) was a Canadian amateur soccer player who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics as a member of a Canadian team made-up of Galt F.C. players. In St. Louis he was the soccer tournament's joint top scorer with three goals as his side won the gold medal.

Photo of Dwight Lodeweges

5. Dwight Lodeweges (b. 1957)

With an HPI of 45.57, Dwight Lodeweges is the 5th most famous Canadian Soccer Player.  Her biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Dwight Lodeweges (born 26 October 1957) is a Canadian–born Dutch football coach and former professional player. He is currently one of the assistant managers of the Netherlands national team. In 2020 – after Ronald Koeman left to join FC Barcelona – he was caretaker manager for two matches. On 29 June 2021 Frank de Boer resigned as coach and Lodeweges again took over on an interim basis until a new head coach was appointed.

Photo of George Orton

6. George Orton (1873 - 1958)

With an HPI of 44.96, George Orton is the 6th most famous Canadian Soccer Player.  His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

George Washington F. Orton (January 10, 1873 – June 24, 1958) was a Canadian middle and long-distance runner. In 1900, he became the first Canadian to win a medal at an Olympic Games. He won a bronze in the 400 metre hurdles, and then, forty-five minutes later, won the gold medal in the 2500 metre steeplechase. He was the first athlete with a disability to win an Olympic gold medal. At the University of Pennsylvania, for whom he competed while earning his Masters (MA in 1894) and Doctorate (Ph.D. in 1896) and completed his ability to speak 9 languages, he was captain of Penn's track and field team in 1896 and was a founder and captain of its ice hockey team in 1896–1897, and was known as "The Father of Philadelphia Hockey". He won seventeen U.S. National Track and Field titles.

Photo of Atiba Hutchinson

7. Atiba Hutchinson (b. 1983)

With an HPI of 44.03, Atiba Hutchinson is the 7th most famous Canadian Soccer Player.  His biography has been translated into 34 different languages.

Atiba Hutchinson (born 8 February 1983) is a former Canadian professional soccer midfielder. Considered an iconic figure of North American soccer in general and Canada particularly, with 105 international appearances in the span of 20 years, he is the Canadian national team's record cap holder. Hutchinson rose to prominence at F.C. Copenhagen as the first North American to become Danish Superliga Player of the Year. That same season, he won the first of six Canadian Player of the Year awards. He had a fairly uneventful spell with PSV Eindhoven between 2010 and 2013 and then spent the next 10 years at Beşiktaş in Turkey, retiring with cult hero status. In 2012, as part of the Canadian Soccer Association's centennial celebration, he was named to the all-time Canadian men's XI.

Photo of Jonathan de Guzmán

8. Jonathan de Guzmán (b. 1987)

With an HPI of 40.72, Jonathan de Guzmán is the 8th most famous Canadian Soccer Player.  His biography has been translated into 39 different languages.

Jonathan Alexander de Guzmán (born 13 September 1987) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Sparta Rotterdam. De Guzmán is Canadian-born, but made himself available for the Netherlands after he gained Dutch citizenship in 2008, having lived in the country since the age of 12. He progressed through the Feyenoord Academy, making his first team debut in 2005 and went on to play over 100 matches for the club from Rotterdam. In the summer of 2010 de Guzmán signed a three-year contract with RCD Mallorca following a free transfer. The following summer he was purchased by Villarreal. Internationally, he was capped four times for the Netherlands U21 team, scoring three goals and playing in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Later, he went on to become a full international, making 14 appearances for the senior Netherlands side between 2013 and 2015. In 2014, De Guzmán was described as a player with good technique, vision, and shooting ability from distance; he is also known as a free-kick specialist.

Photo of Fikayo Tomori

9. Fikayo Tomori (b. 1997)

With an HPI of 40.26, Fikayo Tomori is the 9th most famous Canadian Soccer Player.  His biography has been translated into 40 different languages.

Oluwafikayomi Oluwadamilola "Fikayo" Tomori (born 19 December 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Serie A club AC Milan and the England national team.

Photo of Dale Mitchell

10. Dale Mitchell (b. 1958)

With an HPI of 36.18, Dale Mitchell is the 10th most famous Canadian Soccer Player.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Dale William Mitchell (born April 21, 1958) is a Canadian former professional soccer striker who played for several North American teams in the 1980s and 1990s. He made 55 appearances for the Canada national team and scored a then national record 19 goals. He coached the Canada national team from May 2007 until March 27, 2009. In 2012 as part of the Canadian Soccer Association's centennial celebration, he was named to the all-time Canada XI men's team. He was inducted into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame in 2002. In March 2014 it was announced that he would also be a 2014 inductee into the Indoor Soccer Hall of Fame.

People

Pantheon has 76 people classified as Canadian soccer players born between 1873 and 2006. Of these 76, 74 (97.37%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Canadian soccer players include John van 't Schip, Yassine Bounou, and Owen Hargreaves. The most famous deceased Canadian soccer players include Tom Taylor, and George Orton. As of April 2024, 30 new Canadian soccer players have been added to Pantheon including Dale Mitchell, Tajon Buchanan, and Stephen Eustáquio.

Living Canadian Soccer Players

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Deceased Canadian Soccer Players

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Newly Added Canadian Soccer Players (2024)

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