Tuesday January 28, 2025...City of Toronto celebrates special countdown to the 2026 World Cup (by Rocket Robin)

A special celebration was held today at Regent Park Community Centre in downtown Toronto to countdown the date that it's only 500 days until the 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup kicks off in North America. Toronto is one of the selected cities hosting multiple games.

An interesting place and time to hold the event. I'll let a city of Toronto employee (deduced by his the city logo on his parka) acting as a crossing guard at a traffic light commenting on the Regent Park community by warning me some phrase between 'tough neighbourhood' and 'some s***hole'. Yeah the inner city. I ended up walking from the subway station because Queen Street was ripped up to build the Yonge-Queen station on the new Ontario line. This part of the city it has to be underground. The streetcars were detoured to a few blocks south. The centre was further east than I thought and every block mattered to me as on Sunday morning I had kicked a snowshovel in my doorway was I reached onto my porch barefoot. Ouch! My walking shoes also tightened up as they got wet from the snow on the sidewalks.

By the time the meeting started, school had finished (that's why there was a crossing guard on the way here, and there were plenty of children here. Many came after school for activities until their parents picked them up to take them home after their work day ended.

The event was held in the huge gymnasium two stories tall with a weight room and fitness centre in view on the second floor.

York United supplied two players to meet the community, both born in the city--Steffan Yeates (who just signed with the team last week) and Kembo Kibato who was traded here in the middle of last season. I confirmed with team officials that it was Yeates who had shown interest in playing with York after visiting while playing for Pacific FC and noting the changes in the fan atmosphere between previous years and the growing crowds in 2024. This was brought up in the York fan Zoom call with team present Ricardo Pasquel a few weeks ago (this was before Yeates had signed with the club and got the message boards buzzing with who it could be).


York United FC players Steffen Yeates and Kembo Kibato

I had the perfect icebreaker. Both Yeates and Kibato have Wikipedia pictures taken by me! Kibato at a press conference last season when he was here last April with Vancouver FC, and Yeates from 2022 in a grainy shot of him in line for the national anthem while with Toronto FC II.

The 'surprise Canada Soccer legend' who was teased in the e-mail turned out to be Dwayne De Rosario. He was just perfect as he could relate his story of growing up in an immigrant family in public housing (in Scarborough which is on the east side of the city). Some thought it might be Christine Sinclair who is in Toronto and attended the Raptors basketball game last night. Hey so was De Rosario! Tonight Sinclair is being presented as the 2025 Honouree of the 'Women of Inspiration'. Today is about the Men's World cup so DeRo was the right choice.


Kembo Kibato, Steffen Yeates, Dwayne DeRosario with two City employees pep talk the kids for their games.

The threesome of Yeates, Kibato, and De Rosario, with City of Toronto recreation staff led the kids though some soccer drills which eventually led to futsal games between four pinney wearing teams. My mind wandered watching one of the younger boys who wore a pair of running shoes that set off a string of flashing lights when he put weight on them. When he stood still nothing, but when he ran, green green green. If a pro had come up with this how long would it be before whatever league he played in would outlaw the footwear. This led to a discussion among reporters about which teams wore the hardest to identify numbers on jerseys. I think I won with yellow numbers on white shirts...by the second half with the players all sweaty, it was just a blob...thank goodness by then I could ID most players by differing dreadlocks or shoe colouring. RIP L1O Sanjax Lions although I also offered up L1O Masters FA with their graduated pink to red jerseys with red numbers.

Interview with Sharon Bollenbach, Executive Director, FIFA World Cup Hosting 2026. (an employee with the City of Toronto).
If I ask the question, it's in BOLD lettering.

Audio of questions asked...(12 minutes 4 seconds)

Quick summary is that there is one training facility being built at Centennial Park in Etobicoke (the city's west end) and improvements to BMO Field.

(finishing a question about legacy improvements being made to Centennial Park in Etobicoke)
Is this new field separate from the current Centennial Stadium?
(built in 1967 and renamed Rob Ford Stadium in 2024...seating capacity 2200.).
Are improvements being to Rob Ford Stadium? short answer: Yes although that stadium will not be used for the World Cup.
Who will use it after the tournament—professionals, the community?
In winter, will it be under a dome? Yes
What is being spent on this new facility....ie a field house, a field...
Was there at one going to be two facilities?
Will this one pitch be enough for this huge tournament?
Is there a dollar amount being put into this? (about $20 million which will include the long term foundations in place for the legacy). Where are we at with BMO Field improvements?
Will the main emphasis improving the north and south stands and installing more luxury suites?
(legacy will include new scoreboards, new sound system, new lightning, washroom accessibility, besides temporary seating for the tourney)
When will we get the new scoreboard?...(short answer March 2025 for first one..there will eventually be four)
Back to Etobicoke, will an interested pro team have to pay for their own stands—as plans now don't include them?
Are people happy with these long term plans?
Does traffic follow into your responsibility? Yes...so expand on those plans...
Is the design of the BMO Field plans changing from the plans years ago?
What are the legacy features expected by the city?
The pitch at Centennial is new? Yes!
Any plans for Lamport Stadium?...short summary--Not as part of this FIFA tournament.


Football or futsal? as the kids played in the gym.

At the end of the games, each child who played was given a full size souvenir scarf with FIFA Toronto 2026 on them. This will be a collectors item soon. I didn't realize Sharpies could sign a scarf but kids were getting autographs from the three players.


Each player was given a souvenir scarf.


All the players in tonight's games.


Steffen Yeates signs a scarf.

I waited until Dwayne DeRosario had finished signing autographs and asked him about where his own sons would be playing this season. (Both had played with York United FC in previous years). Goalie Adisa De Rosario is back with Toronto FC of MLS so it looks like he will be there or like last year with Toronto FC II of the MLS NEXT Pro league. Forward Osaze De Rosario is currently with the MLS Seattle Sounders (which also means he could be with Seattle's NEXT Pro team Tacoma Defiance like last season.

Some staff from York were giving out the team picture poster to some of the kids left over from the free poster night at last year's regular season final. The picture was taken late enough that Kibato was on the team. I've still got mine at home...so many players are g-o-n-e now.

OK more stuff about York United FC mostly answered by Eoin O'Callaghan, VP of Content and Communication Strategy. York has almost filled their roster...there are a few players they have yet to announce. Their academy team which has formed to compete in League1 Ontario's Championship Division (second tier) also almost has a full roster of 22. He said they 'looked at' 400 players.

Also the CPL team is preparing for some of their preseason training in Portugal playing a few warm up matches against local clubs. They will be stationed around his hometown which is Nazare.


The Regent Park Community Centre building. I took this picture before the event started.

Late news: The local CBC Toronto station had a piece on their 11:00pm newscast (not buried in their sports news) about this event with great quotes from Dwayne DeRosario about his growing up in public housing and about being from an immigrant family and how soccer led him to see the world and support his family. The segment sequed in to a press conference where Mayor Olivia Chow was also boosting the World Cup coming to this city. There was no mention of the York players.

In this morning's (Wednesday) Toronto Star the York players were mentioned by name. This newspaper has never mentioned York United and although they do publish the CPL standings, they change the names of scorelines to the cities they are from ie. 'Hamilton 1 Winnipeg 1'

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