January 5 – James Johnson is conscious that grand declarations mean little without trust behind them. Six months into his role as chief executive of Canada Soccer Business (CSB), he frames his tenure not as a reset, but as a careful recalibration at a moment when the sport in Canada is edging towards its most significant summer.
“Look, it’s six months in,” Johnson says. “The first three months was a lot of listening, discovering, asking questions, trying to understand challenges and the complexity of challenges.”
That early period, he explains, was deliberately cautious. Rather than rushing to impose change on the commercial business that drives the professional and national game in Canada, Johnson focused on understanding the landscape he had stepped into – one shaped by growing interest in football, but also by structural fragility and public scepticism.
“So that was really the first period,” he continues. “Then the second half, meaning October, November, December has really been about putting in place a vision that we’ve released publicly. It’s a living vision that we’re still working through because we’re soliciting more feedback so we can test our thinking through a robust process.”
That vision is inseparable from the World Cup this summer. Canada will be one of the hosts and, for Johnson, the tournament is both an opportunity and a test of competence.
“One of which is our legacy strategy, is linked obviously to the World Cup this summer,” he says. “We’ve put in place new management as well, appointing a Chief Commercial Officer and a Chief Marketing Officer. That’s like signing a shiny new nine and ten in a football team. We’ve done all that because we’re really wanting to hit the ground running in 2026.”
Preparation, Johnson says, is largely complete. Action is next.
“I feel pretty good about where we are now,” he adds. “A lot of preparation, now in January we turn into execution mode.”
That sense of urgency sharpens when the conversation turns to the next 12 months. Canada will sit in the global spotlight, but Johnson is clear that visibility alone guarantees nothing.
“There’s a lot of work to do,” he says. “I think as far as the CPL is concerned and Canadian soccer business is concerned, everything we do in ‘26 has to have a thought and a connection to the World Cup.”
That thinking, he says, must run through every level of decision-making.
“Whether that’s acquisition of media rights, or narrative for the league, or the league calendar and scheduling, or deals that we do on behalf of Canada’s soccer commercially,” he explains.
“Everything we do needs to have a 2026 FIFA World Cup thread to it and a focus.”
That focus, Johnson stresses, has an end point.
“And that’s going to be the focus until we get to the World Cup in June,” he says. “When we get there, the strategy and thinking changes.”
What follows the tournament matters just as much as the build-up.
“It’s about making sure that the CPL and also the men’s national team and the women’s national team, the rights of which we own, are really front and centre during that period so that when the World Cup comes and goes six weeks later, we’re able to carry on the magic beyond the World Cup.”
Canada, he admits, has struggled with that transition in the past.
“There has been challenges in Canada, broadly speaking, before major tournaments in the past,” Johnson says, “and we need to do our part in ensuring that we avoid that happening again by working collaboratively with other stakeholders and Canada Soccer in particular.”
Asked what success actually looks like once the World Cup arrives on home soil, Johnson avoids numbers or slogans. Instead, he talks about habits.
“The more people watching the sport, participating in the sport, playing the sport, the more people supporting the game locally,” he says. “We know people love soccer in Canada, albeit it’s very European football focused, but making sure that people know about a local league is super important.”
For Johnson, the metrics are simple if not easy to achieve.
“Attendance, audience, participation – that all will increase, I believe, with the right strategies in place,” he says. “We know that there’ll be a lot of people engaging in the sport this summer – more than ever and more than any other sport – but the trick is going to be how do we capture that and maintain it beyond the World Cup.”
The Canadian Premier League (CPL) sits at the centre of that ambition. Johnson speaks warmly about its identity and its place in the wider ecosystem.
“In terms of sustainability, competitiveness and its role in the national football pathway, it’s a really fantastic league,” he says. “It’s got this really lovely local feel.”
Development, more than glamour, defines its purpose.
“It’s really about developing great football players,” Johnson says. “The CPL is obviously the peak but you’ve got this great group of competitions that sit underneath, which people often don’t know that we own as well.”
Those pathways, he insists, are already delivering.
“These leagues are developing some of the world’s greatest players, like Olivia Smith and Jonathan David who both came through Canadian structures and have been exported to the rest of the world,” he says.
Strip away the noise, and Johnson believes the league’s mission is straightforward.
“The CPL’s DNA is really simple,” he says. “It’s a league for Canadians to develop Canadian players.”
Whether the World Cup becomes a turning point or another missed opportunity will depend not on spectacle, but on what Canada does when the world moves on. Johnson’s task is to make sure it does not.
Contact the writer of this story, Harry Ewing, at [email protected]