Jesse Marsch was a fairly eye-opening hire for the Canadian men’s national team.
Sure, Marsch isn’t Carlo Ancelotti, but he’s a manager with plenty of top-notch experience, coaching in the Premier League as recently as last season. For Canada, he was one of the best realistic options to lead the team through the 2026 World Cup.
But hold on a moment. Canada’s federation is broke, isn’t it? It was, after all, just last year that the “B” word was thrown around by Canada Soccer’s general secretary. So how did they afford to hire Marsch?
The answer can be found in the new job title of Canada’s men’s national team head coach. Or should we say, the MLS Canada men’s national team head coach.
Lacking the funds to adequately compensate Marsch, Canada Soccer went hat in hand to the owners of MLS’s three Canadian teams. They delivered, but with some weird strings attached.
Per a Canada Soccer press release:
The appointment of Marsch is assisted by major philanthropic contributions from the owners of the three Canadian-based MLS clubs – Vancouver Whitecaps, Joey Saputo, and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment – and supplemented by other private donors. In recognition of their significant philanthropic support, Marsch’s position will be formally titled as the MLS Canada Men’s National Team Head Coach during the term of his initial contract. This type of donor recognition is common at universities and hospitals, in NCAA sports, and is starting to be used in the Canadian sport system – for example, with the Stollery Family Women’s National Team Head Coach support at Golf Canada.
These commitments are part of a forthcoming major gifts program that will provide Canadian philanthropists with a structured opportunity to support Canada Soccer programs of all types – including the Men’s and Women’s National Team systems, from youth teams up through the senior national teams.
Now, it’s great that these owners wanted to offer their, um, philanthropic support, but is that title really necessary? Couldn’t they have just pitched in without having to bestow some kind of paradoxical riddle on their new coach?
Is Marsch the coach of Canada, or a MLS coach? The answer, apparently, is yes.
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