From Ghana to Croatia: Diaspora community excited to welcome national teams to Toronto for 2026 World Cup

The 2026 World Cup is set to bring national teams to Toronto from Ghana, Panama, Croatia, Germany, Cote d'Ivoire, and Senegal. Fans from Germany, Ghana, and Croatia are pictures in the above image. (Supplied photos)

This summer, Toronto will welcome the world to our city, and no one is more excited than members of the six diaspora communities whose national teams are set to compete here during the 2026 World Cup.

On Dec. 5, FIFA held its final World Cup draw in Washington, D.C. There, Ghana, Panama, Germany, Cote d’Ivoire, Croatia, and Senegal learned they’d be playing matches at Toronto Field this summer.

CP24.com recently spoke with people from those countries about what it means to them to welcome their national team to Canada for the planet’s largest and most prestigious men’s soccer tournament.

‘A party for everyone’

Emmanuel Duodu, president of the Ghanian-Canadian Association of Ontario (GCAO), said members of his community, which numbers roughly 60,000 in the GTA and about 95,000 in Canada, can’t wait to welcome the Black Stars. They’re especially excited to see midfielders Mohammed Kudus and Thomas Partey and winger/forwards Jordan and Andre Ayew.

Ghana, which is competing in the World Cup for the fifth time, is set to take on against Panama on June 17.

The west African nation, which has an estimated 35 million inhabitants, has made it to the finals of the men’s tournament four times – in 2006, 2010, 2014, and 2022.

“We’re excited about (our team coming to Toronto for the World Cup), really. … It’s going to be fantastic,” Duodu enthused during a recent interview.

“It’s going to be a party for everyone. … We are ready to go.”

In May 2022, GCAO opened a Community Resource Hub in North York. Duodu said activations and watch parties would surely be held there, however people from the community would also likely be gathering in Etobicoke, Scarborough, and even Brampton, which all have notable Ghanian communities, he said.

“But this is not only about Game Day for us. … We want to use this platform to make people more aware of our country and to connect people,” said Duodu.

‘Big celebration’

Panama, whose population is just 4.5 million, is the sole Latin American team coming to Toronto for the World Cup.

Its team is set to compete in two World Cup games in Toronto on June 17 against Ghana and on June 23 against Croatia.

Some of its star players include defender Michael Amir Murilllo, midfielder Adalberto Carrasquilla, anchor Anibal Godoy, and goaltender Luis Mejia.

“We’re very excited,” said Jan Woolford, the Consul General of Panama.

“We’ll be bringing music, happiness, joy, instruments, drums, and dancing. It’s going to be a big celebration.”

Woolford said he’s heard from many famous Panamanians who hope to come to Toronto for the World Cup game, including artists and musicians, even the country’s president.

Panama, which is making its second World Cup appearance this summer, has a small diaspora community in Canada numbering about 6,000, including roughly 4,200 in the GTA.

Woolford said the 2026 World Cup is really a chance to showcase his country to the world and encourage everyone to visit it.

“It’s very inspiring for us to be in the spotlight,” he said, adding several events will surely be organized in Toronto to support the national team.

“We want people to learn more about Panama. We want to promote all the good things we have there ... with the world on an international stage.”

‘Proud moment’

Antawara Ibarra, of the Panameños en Canadá group, said she and her fellow Panamanians here are “very excited” that their country’s team, dubbed “Los Canaleros” or ”La Marea Roja,” will be competing in two group-stage World Cup matches in Toronto this summer.

“Having our national team play here is a proud moment — a chance to celebrate our roots and share our passion for fútbol. We’re getting ready to bring our support, energy, and alegría — the lively, positive spirit Panamanians are known for,” Ibarra said in a written statement provided to CP24.

“From our flags to our chants, we’ll bring the joy and spirit of Panama to every corner of the stadium. ¡Vamos Panamá!, ¡Vamos Los Canaleros!”

Panameños en Canadá, which was founded in 2022, said it intends to host watch parties during the country’s two World Cup matches to bring the community together.

‘Once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’

Approximately 130,000 people of Croatian descent call Canada home, many of whom live in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton area, according to the 2021 census.

Jason Grbavac said he and his community are “over the moon excited” to welcome the country’s national team, which is known by nicknames Vatreni (The Blazers) and Kockasti (The Checkered Ones), to Toronto for the World Cup next summer.

Grbavac is a member of the Croatian Sports and Community Centre of Hamilton (also known as Hamilton Croatia). He said the passion his community has for the beautiful game is “just so high.”

“For us, this is a real once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” he shared, adding while Croatia may be small in size with a population of roughly 4 million, its national soccer team is very strong.

The 2026 World Cup will be Croatia’s sixth appearance in the tournament. The team has earned three spots on the podium: silver in 2018 and bronze in 1998 and 2022.

A self-described super fan, Grbavac said he managed to score four tickets to see Croatia compete in the World Cup in Toronto on June 23.

“I just had to be there,” he told CP24.

Croatia Hamilton, along with several other Croatian groups and even churches in the GTHA, will be organizing events to cheer on the national team, especially legendary midfielder Luka Modric and epic defender Joško Gvardiol.

“The World Cup is really a chance to celebrate our culture, our pride for our homeland,” said Grbavac, who has travelled to Moscow and Berlin to see the team play.

“We’re all just so excited and so pumped.”

‘Pride and emotions will be on high’

Katica Visic, of the Canadian Croatian Club Zagorje, said her community is “thrilled” that the national team will be playing so close to home this summer, adding she expects the country’s distinct red-and-white checkers will take over Toronto.

“With Croatia doing so well on the world soccer stage, we are very excited and hoping to go all the way. Soccer is part of us, our culture, and the national team is one of our connections to the homeland,” she said.

“It will not matter if you are the lucky one to be at BMO Field or you are at one of the viewing parties, pride and emotions will be on high.”

‘Life-long dream’

Four-time World Cup champion Germany, which is nicknamed “die/unsere Elf” (the/our Eleven) or die “Nationalelf,” is set to take on Cote d’Ivoire on June 20.

Anne-Marie Seessle, of the FC Bayers Munich Fan Club - Sudkurve Toronto, said Germany playing in Toronto for the World Cup is a “life-long dream.”

“I have been watching the team for my whole life. I love them so much,” she told CP24 during a recent interview.

Seessle said she and several of her fellow German soccer fans managed to score tickets to the game.

“Seeing my team play in the World Cup is even more special,” said Seessle, who “cried like a baby” when she got her tickets on Dec. 5.

“I’m so excited to be able to witness this in Toronto.”

Seessle said she hopes star goalkeeper Manuel Neuer will make it to Toronto for the World Cup as well as beloved attacking midfielder Jamal Musiala and her favourite player, former midfielder Michael Ballack.

‘Super excited’

Dennis Klotz is a member of the Canadian Borussia Dortmund fans club, a large group that meets regularly in Toronto to watch games and cheer on Germany’s national team.

“Everyone is super excited for the (upcoming World Cup) game,” he shared in a statement provided to CP24.

“We are trying to get tickets from all angles.”

Klotz said the club’s members, along with other German groups and organizations, are already discussing organizing events to welcome the national team to Toronto and watch its World Cup games.

“We are hoping that (it) will help soccer to get even more popular in Toronto and will try to contribute the best way we can,” he said.

There are more than three million people in Canada who are of German descent, according to 2021 census data. Germany has a population of roughly 84 million people.

‘Moment of pride’

The Ivorian community in Canada, however, is a much, much smaller, especially in the Greater Toronto Area, numbering a couple thousand at most.

Hermane Ligue, the president of the Communauté Ivoirienne de Toronto, said regardless their enthusiasm for the beautiful game is huge.

“For us, (Cote d’Ivoire being in the World Cup) is a moment of pride and highly awaited by the Ivorian and African diaspora,” he wrote in a statement.

Ligue said his community has shown that it can come together for its national soccer team, pointing to its high support it demonstrated during FIFA’s inaugural Canadian Shield tournament this past June in Toronto, when Cote d’Ivoire competed against Canada, Ukraine, and New Zealand.

That same excitement, he said, will surely be present during the World Cup.

Ligue did note, however, that the high cost of tickets to the match has been prohibitive for many members of the Ivorian and African communities and would ultimately make it impossible for many to watching the World Cup in person at Toronto Stadium this summer.

Nonetheless, several events and watch parties are in the works, he said, to give Ivorians and fans of the team a chance to enjoy the tournament and cheer on “Les Elephants d’Afrique.”

Cote d’Ivoire, which has roughly 32.5 million inhabitants, has won the Africa Cup of Nations three times, in 1992, 2015, and 2024 and has qualified for the World Cup four times, in 2006, 2019, 2014, and 2026. Some of the team’s star players include midfielders Franck Kessie and Seko Fofana, defender Ousmane Diomande, winger Simon Adingra, and striker Sébastien Haller.

‘Means lot to us’

Senegal, whose population is around 19 million, is the sixth team competing in Toronto during the 2026 World Cup.

Also a French-speaking country in west Africa, Les Lions de la Teranga have qualified for the World Cup four times: in 2002, 2018, 2022, and 2026. The team also won the Africa Cup in 2021. Some of its key players are wingers Sadio Mané and Ismaila Sarr, defender Kalidou Koulibaly, goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, and midfielders Idrissa Gueye, Pape Matar Sarr, and Lamine Camara.

At this time, it is not known who will compete against Senegal, whose diaspora numbers roughly 10,000 in Canada, including about 2,000 in southern Ontario, as the winner of the Round of 32 has yet to be determined.

“This (appearance at the World Cup) means a lot to us,” said Kadiatou Ndiaye, the present of the Senegalese Association of Ontario.

“We are very happy and excited.”

She said the World Cup is a chance for Senegalese people here to showcase their culture and food, adding it’s likely many of the World Cup gatherings in the city will take place at PendAfrica on Oakwood Avenue, a newly opened Senegalese restaurant.