Canada appears to be thinking big when it comes to its next men’s national team head coach.
According to a report in The Standard, Canada Soccer has contacted Jesse Marsch and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer over its vacant head coaching role.
Canada Soccer finds itself in an awkward spot as it looks for a new leader of its men’s national team.
On one hand, the federation is in a financial crisis that helped lead former coach John Herdman to resign last year to take Toronto FC’s head coaching role. Mauro Biello has been serving as an interim since Herdman’s departure.
On the other hand, Canada has been on the rise in recent years, boasting star players like Alphonso Davies, Jonathan David and Tajon Buchanan, and will serve as the co-host of the 2026 World Cup.
Marsch has been out of work after being sacked by Leeds 14 months ago. The 50-year-old does have coaching experience in Canada, taking charge of the then-Montreal Impact in 2012 in what was his first head coaching role.
Solskjaer, meanwhile, has been out of a job since he was sacked by Manchester United in 2021.
Other reported candidates for the Canada role include former Chelsea and Real Madrid assistant coach Paul Clement, former Middlesbrough boss Aitor Karanka, and current Forge FC head coach Bobby Smyrniotis.
Clement has been a longtime assistant for Carlo Ancelotti, who would be something of a dream hire for Canada. The current Real Madrid head coach is married to a Canadian and has previously said he’d be open to managing Canada one day.
Should Clement come in, it could be step one of an ambitious plan to eventually hire Ancelotti to lead Canada.
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