Canada Soccer has set the record — again — for the largest in-stadia attendance for a Canadian national team event of any sport held in Canada. The new record-setting crowd of 54,798 fans was established on Friday 25 March at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ Qualifiers match featuring Canada and Mexico.
The 2016 home international match was played at BC Place in Vancouver, British Columbia. It was also the biggest crowd for a BC Place sporting event since the stadium was refurbished in 2011.
Canada Soccer established the national record in 1994 with a Men’s International Friendly match in Edmonton, Alberta. That year, 51,936 fans watched Canada face Brazil on 5 June at Commonwealth Stadium. Just over a month later, Brazil were 1994 FIFA World Cup™USA champions.
Twenty-one years later on 6 June 2015, Canada Soccer broke the record with 53,058 fans at the opening match of the FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015 in Edmonton. That record fell two more times before the end of the competition in Vancouver: 53,855 fans for Canada’s round of 16 match; then 54,027 for Canada’s quarter-final match.