Canada Soccer CEO Kevin Blue's methodical approach paying early dividends ahead of 2026 men's World Cup

On Tuesday, Kevin Blue, Canada Soccer's CEO and general secretary, called the players on the men's and women's national teams "our biggest resource." How to make the most of them sits at the top of his unenviable to-do list.

Blue sat down for an exclusive interview with CBC Sports a little more than six months into his tenure and less than two years before the 2026 FIFA men's World Cup kicks off in Toronto. It's a time of incredible opportunity for soccer in Canada. Blue knows it's also a time of great risk.

He is the head of an organization that, even by the most generous measures, has suffered through years of mismanagement and disarray. He won the job only after Canada Soccer's first choice, Alyson Walker, declined to take the position the day she was supposed to start.

In her sudden absence, Blue stepped in, and his methodical, analytical approach has paid early dividends.

"There's three-dimensionality to the challenges involved here," he said. "I feel like we're addressing them effectively."

First among his accomplishments: "We hired a pretty darn good men's coach, I would say."

In May, Blue convinced Canada's Major League Soccer teams to help finance the heralded arrival of Jesse Marsch. While Blue chatted in a relatively quiet corner of the lobby of the Delta Hotel in Toronto, Marsch was upstairs, preparing his team for a friendly against Panama on Tuesday night. Staff in black warmup suits hurried about, taking care of last-minute logistics, loading trucks with equipment for the short drive to BMO Field.

An expanded version of the same stadium will host Canada's World Cup opener on June 12, 2026, leading to frenzied scenes behind closed doors, too.

Asked to cast forward to that potentially magical night, Blue