How popular is soccer in Canada?

Answer 1

Sadly, not nearly as popular as in your typical soccer-mad European and South American countries. In terms of team sports, Canadians play virtually everything, but hockey is KING. Therefore, our best athletes may play soccer at some point during their developmental years, but when it comes time to focus on one sport - that sport is usually hockey. (NBA superstar Steve Nash being the notable exception.) The end result is that our premier athletes mostly play hockey (Gretzky, Lemieux, Crosby, etc, etc) or other sports (Nash as noted, MLB's Morneau, Bay & Dempster, etc). I often wonder what it would be like if Canada was a soccer country and guys like Gretzky and Nash - who was a high school soccer star - focused on soccer rather than other sports.