Tosaint Ricketts, who wore the Canada captain’s armband in international football, has announced his retirement from football as an active player. A three-time Canadian Championship winner in club football, Ricketts represented Canada from 2011 to 2009 and retired as the nation’s seventh highest scorer in Men’s National Team history.
Ricketts represented Canada in two cycles of FIFA World Cup Qualifiers and four editions of the Concacaf Gold Cup. He scored 17 goals in 61 career international “A” matches and was Canada’s joint top scorer across FIFA World Cup Qualifiers in 2015 and 2016. He also represented Canada at the FIFA U-20 World Cup Canada 2007.
He was 21 years old when he got his first call up to the Men’s National Team in 2009 and he was 23 years old when he made his international “A” debut on 9 February 2011. He scored his first international goal on 1 June 2011, a memorable added time equaliser against Ecuador in Toronto, then scored his first FIFA World Cup Qualifiers goal just three months later on 6 September, again late in added time, this time for a 3:0 away win over Puerto Rico.
He made his milestone 50th international “A” appearance on 7 June 2016 for a 1:1 draw against Uzbekistan in Austria and then wore the captain’s armband on 6 October 2016 for a 4:0 win over Mauritania in Morocco. He scored his last Canada goal on 7 January 2020 against Barbados and made his final international appearance on 15 January 2020 against Iceland.
Ricketts’ club career took him from Canada to USA, Finland, Romania, Norway, Turkey, Israel, Lithuania and back to Canada. He won back-to-back Canadian Championship titles with Toronto FC in 2017 and 2018, also lifting the MLS Supporters’ Shield and MLS cup in 2017. He then won the 2019 Lithuanian Super Cup with FK Suduva in Europe in 2019. Back in Canada, he went out a champion in 2022 after lifting the Voyageurs Cup for a third time, this time with Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
A speedy striker and winger for both club and country, Ricketts was Canada’s top goalscorer in 2015 and the third-highest scoring Canadian in MLS in 2017. Off the pitch, he was notably a back-to-back recipient of the Whitecaps FC Humanitarian of the Year in 2020 and 2021. Moving off the pitch, Ricketts will continue with Vancouver as the club’s liaison of club and player engagement.
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Tosaint Ricketts on reaching 50 #CANMNT appearances: "I have a great passion for this country & this team." pic.twitter.com/5SqPLG7bon — Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) August 31, 2016
"There is no greater feeling than playing for the national team." -Tosaint Ricketts https://t.co/M6ccOZKkgp pic.twitter.com/eHBWN9KZO3 — Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) September 6, 2016