Alphonso Davies: Canada's defining soccer figure ahead of the 2026 World Cup

If it weren’t for Davies, Canadian soccer wouldn’t be where it is today, and likely wouldn’t be co-hosting the World Cup alongside the United States and Mexico. Born in the Buduburam refugee camp in Ghana after his parents fled the Liberian civil war, Davies emigrated to Canada as a child with two younger siblings.

The family settled in Edmonton, where he blossomed into a teenage soccer phenom before joining the Vancouver Whitecaps MLS academy at the age of 14, and he made his professional debut less than a year later. His overall dream had been to become Canadian. In June 2017, that happened as the then-16-year-old took his oath of citizenship in downtown Vancouver before quickly joining the Canada squad for the Gold Cup.

"It’s the first time he saw his mom cry; he was learning [aspects of] his story just as the world was, so that's when my eyes were really opened," Farhan Devji, who wrote the book 'Alphonso Davies: A New Hope,' recalled.

Canada, Edmonton, Vancouver

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