"The eyeballs of the world will be on us at 3 p.m." That's Peter Montopoli, Canada's chief tournament officer, and he's not exaggerating. When Canada opens against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Toronto on Friday, it will be — according to Montopoli — the largest broadcasted event in Canadian history by size and scope.
That's a statement worth sitting with. Not the biggest sporting event. The biggest broadcast. Full stop.
Don't sleep on Bosnia-Herzegovina
Canada enter as the higher-ranked side on paper — 30th in the world against Bosnia's 64th — but the rankings flatter the hosts here. Bosnia reached this tournament by beating Wales (37th) and Italy (12th) via penalty shootouts in the European playoffs. That's not a team that stumbles through qualification. That's a team that wins ugly when it has to, with experienced heads and enough young talent to be genuinely awkward.
Canada backers will want to look carefully at those shootout results before touching any handicap line on this one. Bosnia know how to stay in games.
The venue itself is intimate by World Cup standards — 42,000 capacity after 16,100 temporary seats were added to the 19-year-old BMO Field, rebranded as Toronto Stadium for the tournament. It's the smallest among the 16 host cities. Montopoli calls it "intimate" and says players "can almost touch" the crowd. Whether that atmosphere galvanizes Canada or tightens them up is a genuine question for a squad that drew 1-1 with Ireland in their final warm-up.
Fifteen years in the making
For Montopoli, Friday's anthem moment at 2:54 p.m. is the culmination of a road that started at a Vancouver dinner in 2011 with Victor Montagliani and FIFA veteran Walter Sieber. FIFA awarded hosting rights to the United Bid — Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. — in 2018, and the machinery has been grinding ever since.
It hasn't all been clean. The tournament's ticketing system drew sustained criticism, with dynamic pricing confusing a global audience unused to North American norms. The most accessible option visible on the Canada-Bosnia ticket portal this week? An $11,250 single-person hospitality package with champagne on arrival. Over 90 per cent of the overall ticket supply has reportedly sold regardless.
Vancouver's BC Place has been upgraded with new scoreboard panels and, critically, a temporary grass pitch. Montopoli will shuttle between both cities to cover all 13 Canadian fixtures across the tournament's 39-day run.
"If this is my last event, it's pretty good, I think," he said. Given where it started — a dinner, a handshake, a long-shot bid — that's probably underselling it.
