When Kevin Blue took over as Canada Soccer’s general secretary, his acclimatization period was brief.
“We have a lot to do, urgently,” Blue told The Athletic on his first day on the job last March.
The men’s team still requires a collective bargaining agreement after years of public acrimony and stalled attempts to reach a conclusion with the federation. Qualifying for the 2022 World Cup had drained the federation’s financial resources so Blue also needs to develop new methods for injecting cash into an organization that needs it.
But one deadline approaches faster than any other: the June 20th Copa America opener against reigning World Cup champion Argentina. Canada qualified for the tournament nine days after Blue started on the job, but hiring a full-time head coach remains a work in progress.
After former head coach John Herdman departed in 2023, Mauro Biello took over as interim. The Montreal native had a poor start at the helm but achieved the only goal that really mattered in guiding Canada over Trinidad and Tobago in March to qualify for Copa America. Biello’s experience with the men’s team, having joined as an assistant in February 2018 and later coaching the U-20 side, makes him valuable to the program.
While Biello will interview for the full-time position, multiple sources said there is a growing feeling of ambition within Canada Soccer over who to hire. Many believe an international manager with an established pedigree would match the organization’s ambition.
Canada Soccer is taking more time than it did with Herdman, who they hired quickly in 2018 in the hopes of keeping him in the organization after he coached Canada’s women’s team for several years. It represents a different step for the organization.
That process has intensified as of late: international candidates are being interviewed this week with domestic candidate interviews to follow next week.
Three domestic coaches who will have interviews next week are Biello, Forge FC head coach Bobby Smyrniotis and Cavalry FC head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. With multiple Canadian Premier League awards and titles to their names, Smyrniotis and Wheeldon have separated themselves as the best managers working in club soccer in Canada right now. Each has connections to men’s team players and a history of developing talent in Canada. Smyrniotis developed Tajon Buchanan, Cyle Larin and Richie Laryea previously within his Sigma academy. Wheeldon Jr. coached Alphonso Davies and Jonathan David as an assistant on the Under-17 national team between 2013 and 2015.
What could work against the two CPL coaches is the federation’s desire to make a splash and their interest in an international manager.
Among the many candidates who Canada Soccer has either interviewed, reached out to, or who have been contacted by various intermediaries, one name stands out because of his experience and the detail in his meeting with Canada Soccer: Paul Clement.
The longtime English assistant coach of Carlo Ancelotti has experience working at the biggest clubs in the world including Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Chelsea. He has experience not just managing the best players in the game — Cristiano Ronaldo among them — and the egos that sometimes come, but also with the pressures and expectations that any manager will face in Copa America and the World Cup.
Clement, 52, also has head coach experience in the Premier League with Swansea City as well as tenures with Ireland’s Under-21 side and Chelsea youth sides.
Canada Soccer also had a conversation with representatives for former Premier League manager Frank Lampard. According to multiple sources, there was an initial conversation between Canada Soccer and Lampard’s camp but they never reached the interview stage.
Multiple sources said Canada Soccer has also contacted Herve Renard (currently head coach of France’s women’s team), Jesse Marsch and Thierry Henry to gauge their interest in the position as well.
There are other current and former MLS coaches with strong connections to players on Canada’s men’s national team whose names have also been considered.
In a statement to The Athletic, Canada Soccer’s Chief Communications Officer Paulo Senra said, “The search is ongoing and is confidential, and we are not commenting on the accuracy of any rumors. When there is news to report, you will hear it directly from us.”
There are some around the coaching search who have argued that all three of Smyrniotis, Wheeldon Jr. and Biello are competent coaches and hiring a Canadian-based coach ahead of hosting World Cup games sends a strong message of faith to the Canadian soccer community. One idea that has been floated throughout the hiring process has been for one or both of Smyrniotis or Wheeldon Jr. to take a role within Canada’s youth national team setup. On the one hand, this could ensure these top identifiers of talent within Canada still have a role in developing players ahead of 2026.
Internationally, it’s important to remember that Canada Soccer isn’t the only federation trolling the waters for a new coach. The manager chairs for Ireland and South Korea are also vacant, and Canada Soccer is undoubtedly aware of these vacancies and how either could potentially outbid Canada Soccer for an available manager’s services. For example, Paulo Bento, who coached South Korea at the 2022 World Cup, reportedly earned a salary nearly three times that of Herdman.
Multiple people briefed on Canada Soccer’s approach have commended the role of Blue and the process he has put in place to conduct the search. He has utilized the input of what one person said was “every stakeholder you could possibly imagine.”
When he was hired, Blue told The Athletic he spoke to close to 200 people from across the Canadian soccer landscape to elicit their thoughts on the state of the program and for some, what they believe is necessary in a men’s national team coach expected to lead the team into a World Cup on home soil in two years.
As part of his strategy to make up for his lack of experience in Canadian and international soccer, Blue and the search committee have relied heavily on former men’s national team players for guidance. In doing so, the hope was that these players could identify the gaps in past hires and rectify them moving forward. Multiple former national team players who have remained in the sport have become some of the most influential people on the search committee, helping refine what the organization looks for in a manager.
Central to the line of questioning in the interview process is gauging prospective coaches’ thoughts on the Canadian squad as it stands and how they would make the most of the current pool of players including the team’s younger prospects.
While some important voices within Canadian soccer told The Athletic that hiring a new full-time coach with less than two months to go before the start of Copa America presents too tight a timeline, others have pushed back on that notion. Multiple sources agreed that despite Copa America quickly approaching, the tight timeline serves to benefit the organization. The scheduling – namely, having guaranteed games in two of the three biggest tournaments in international soccer in the next two years – makes the position more attractive to possible coaches.
One person described a continued sense of energy and urgency from most of the candidates that make the tight timeline manageable.
Combined with the fact that Canada will have two of its highest-profile friendlies in program history (June 5 against Netherlands and June 9 against France) there is a definitive feeling from both within the federation and among some prospective coaches that a new coach will have enough time to prepare for Copa America.
Whether the coach is indeed hired by then, however, remains to be seen.
The timeline for hiring a coach is very likely contingent on the upcoming Canada Soccer general election for a new president on May 4.
Canada Soccer President Charmaine Crooks is up for re-election. It’s believed the vote between Crooks and Ontario Soccer President Peter Augruso could end up being close. Augurso has designs on reforming elements of player development within Canada Soccer and wants to be known as a candidate who will put the results on the field first. Augruso would like to hire a sporting director to help finalize the hiring of a men’s national team coach, which could add another layer to the process should he be elected.
It will ultimately be the next president of Canada Soccer who will review the preferred list of candidates and sign off on the hire.
Traditionally, any incoming coach chooses his staff and assistants. However, through the hiring process, multiple people have identified the importance of ensuring Canadian-based coaches are involved in the men’s team staff moving forward. These coaches understand a sometimes fickle soccer landscape in a way international coaches might not.
As the focus shifts from international to domestic interview candidates over the coming days, balancing the role of each is just one of the many questions that remain in the middle of two of the most important weeks for the men’s national team program this year.
(Top photo: Plumb Images/Leicester City FC via Getty Images)
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