TORONTO — Head coach Jesse Marsch included Alphonso Davies in Canada’s 26-player squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup despite the defender’s ongoing recovery from a hamstring injury. Marsch described the squad as “the best group of 26 players that this country has ever assembled at any one time.”

Davies suffered the hamstring injury during Bayern Munich’s Champions League semi-final defeat by Paris St-Germain. He had previously been absent for eight months due to an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear suffered in October 2024. At 25 years old, Davies plays for Bayern Munich and has represented Canada in 58 matches, scoring 15 goals, including the nation’s first-ever World Cup goal in a 4-1 loss to Croatia in 2022.

Canada is co-hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup with the United States and Mexico and will play all three of its group-stage matches on home soil. The team opens the tournament against Bosnia and Herzegovina on June 12 in Toronto, followed by matches against Qatar and Switzerland in Vancouver. Davies faces a race against time to be fit for the opening game.

Marsch acknowledged that not all selected players are at full fitness. “Are all of them right now at full 100%? No, but they’re close.” He added, “We’ve had a pretty good idea of who our core group is for a while. The real X factor in all these decisions was to determine which players are gonna be healthy, and who could we project to be really close to 100% and in the best form of their life.”

Regarding Davies specifically, he said, “Bayern has put him through certain protocols that they can do in Germany that they can’t do in North America. So that’s one of the reasons why he stayed in Germany, because we think they have some advanced techniques in terms of the treatments that he can get, so we think that that’s been good.” Marsch confirmed Davies remained in Germany during Canada’s 32-player training camp to continue his rehabilitation.

“Alphonso will be here on the 31st in Edmonton. So we spoke with Bayern and thought that the best thing for him was to continue his initial recovery treatment until the 28th, then we’re giving him a few days to get away, and then he’ll be joining us the 31st and we’ll pick up his rehab from there, and try to put him in a position to physically succeed and to be part of our team.” He added, “Yes, I think Alphonso will play in the World Cup. No, I don’t think he’ll be ready quite on June 12. But we’ll see.”