CANADA SOCCER TAKING HOME ‘POSITIVES’
DOHA, QATAR With bumper TV audiences at home, the World Cup has focused attention on the Canadian men just as the Tokyo Olympics served as a platform for the women to shine.
Qatar has also allowed Canada Soccer to test out and refine programs that will resurface at the Women’s World Cup next summer in Australia and New Zealand as well as the 2026 men’s tournament, which Canada is co-hosting with the U.S. and Mexico.
“There’s a whole lot of positives we’re going to take out of this and integrate into what we do as an organization,” Canada Soccer general secretary Earl Cochrane said.
The “friends and family” travel/accommodation program for the players drew positive reviews in Qatar and will be used when the Olympic champion Canadians go to the Women’s World Cup. Cochrane says other federations have been picking their brain on the program.
Canada Soccer House has also drawn interest.
Located on the fifth floor of the Hilton Doha The Pearl, the outdoor poolside area was a place for Canadian fans as well as the players’ family and friends to relax and watch games. At $249 an adult and $99 a child, it was not cheap, but that price came with food and more than a few drinks (friends and families did not pay).
Representatives from Toronto and Vancouver, Canada’s host cities for the 2026 tournament, are visiting Qatar to get a firsthand look at the organization.
Canada Soccer also scored points by putting up billboards of all 26 players in their hometowns, a move especially appreciated by their families.
On the TV front, TSN reported last Sunday’s Canada-croatia match — a 4-1 loss — was the second-mostwatched sports broadcast of the year behind the February Super Bowl — and the thirdmost-watched World Cup match on record. The network said the game attracted an average audience of 4.4 million viewers on TSN, CTV, and RDS, with more than one in four Canadians tuning in to watch some or all of the live broadcast.
Formula One confirmed Friday that the Chinese Grand Prix will not take place in 2023, making it the fourth year in a row the race has been cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
F1 has not visited the Shanghai circuit since 2019 as China pursues a strict policy of local lockdowns, virus tests and entry restrictions during the pandemic, long after other countries on the F1 calendar eased many of their measures. The “ZERO-COVID” approach has led to rare protests within China in recent weeks.
F1 said it is assessing alternative options to replace the slot on the 2023 calendar. F1 extended its contract with the Chinese Grand Prix through to 2025 last year.
The first of two World Cup downhill races to be held in Beaver Creek, Colo., was cancelled Friday due to strong wind and snowfall. The course was closed for the day so crew could prepare the Birds of Prey track for another downhill race scheduled for Saturday. There’s also a super-g event on Sunday.