Canada To Face Japan This October In International Friendly

On Tuesday morning, Canada Soccer announced that the Canadian men’s national team will face the world number 20 Japan in Niigata at the Denka Big Swan Stadium on October 13th.

Canada will take advantage of the October international window to prepare for the 2023-2024 Concacaf Nations League, which will serve as the qualifier for the CONMEBOL Copa America 2024.

Canada will play a home-and-away tie in November in the Concacaf Nations League quarter-final. Canada faced Japan before the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, beating them 2-1 in Dubai.

“Playing Japan prior to the World Cup proved to be a valuable experience for our team, and we now get a chance to improve on our last performance against a top 20 ranked team,” said men’s national team head coach John Herdman.

Hajime Moriyasu, the Japan head coach, was thrilled to confirm the matchup on his end.

“We are delighted to host Canada, one of the best teams in Concacaf, who are well organized with highly talented players. Canada will be one of the host nations for the next FIFA World Cup, so this will be a good opportunity to get a glimpse of what is to come in 2026,” he said.

The match will be broadcast on OneSoccer, a subscription-based platform. Canada Soccer also confirmed there will be no window in September.

“Given our inability to confirm an additional high-quality opponent in the September window that met our competitive needs as well as financial constraints, we were unable to secure fixtures for both windows,” added Jason deVos, the interim General Secretary for Canada Soccer.

Canada and Japan have met three times previously and Canada has a 1-0-2 record against them.