In the time around 1900, the WFA had teams throughout Western Ontario in various municipalities including Seaforth, Mildmay, Listowel, Woodstock, Ingersoll, Brussels, Dundas, Aylmer, Ayr, Tavistock, Preston, Galt and Berlin.

On June 21, 1926, the DCFA resigned from FIFA and remained outside the world governing body, following the example of British associations in a dispute over broken time payments to amateurs.

At one point, president Len Peto of Montreal loaned the DFA a considerable sum of money to stave off bankruptcy.

Despite the hard times, Montreal-born goalkeeper Joe Kennaway signed for Scottish giants Glasgow Celtic in 1931 and was an immediate success.

Toronto Scottish won a North American club championship in 1933 by beating holders and U.S. champions Stix, Baer and Fuller F.C.

The Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League was formed in 1961 and featured teams in Toronto, Montreal, Hamilton, and (for one season) Buffalo, New York.

Following a rise in the popularity of the game after the global broadcasting of the 1966 World Cup, the North American Soccer League was formed in 1968.

The league primarily based in the United States also had clubs in Canada and used many European professionals brought in to supplement domestic talent.

The final was held in Seattle, where the Toronto side defeated Minnesota 3–0 with a squad featuring Eusébio, striker Ivan Lukačević, Canadian defender Robert Iarusci and goaltender Željko Bilecki.

Vancouver Whitecaps won the 1979 Soccer Bowl, beating Tampa Bay Rowdies 2–1 in the final at Giants Stadium in New Jersey.

Despite these misfortunes, Canada qualified for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics soccer tournament played throughout the United States.

Continuing in its good phase, Canada secured qualification for the 1986 World Cup after beating Honduras 2–1 in St John's, Newfoundland on September 14, 1985[16] at King George V Park in front of over 13,000 people.

Also in 1986, four Canadian national team players were guilty of taking bribes in a match-fixing scandal at the Merlion Cup in Singapore.

The Canadian Soccer Association suspended Chris Cheuden, Hector Marinaro, David Norman and Igor Vrablic for one year each.

[18] The Vancouver 86ers of the CSL won the 1990 North American Club Championship, beating Maryland Bays 3–2 in the final in Burnaby, British Columbia.

After the 1992 season, the CSL was forced to end operations with Vancouver 86ers and Montreal Impact joining the United States' APSL.

Canada again qualified for FIFA Women's World Cup 1999 played in the United States, again going winless after drawing with Japan and losing to Norway and Russia.

Canada had finished in a tie in group play with South Korea, but won the tie-breaking coin toss to advance to the quarter-final, where they beat Mexico 2–1 on an extra-time golden goal.

At the next Gold Cup in 2002, Canada reached the semi-final for the second time but lost to the United States, on penalty kicks, who would go on to win the tournament.

The final between Canada and the United States was played at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium, with the U.S. winning on a golden goal.

Still later that year, Sinclair led the U.S. NCAA Division I in goals scored as she helped the University of Portland win the national championship.

In the group stages they lost to Germany before beating Japan and Argentina for their first wins in World Cup history (men or women).

In the wake of her record-setting season at Portland, Sinclair won the Honda-Broderick Cup in 2006 as the outstanding female athlete at a U.S. university.

[23] Canada's national team reached the semi-final at the 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup, losing again to the U.S. who would again win the tournament as in 2002.

In May 2008, the CSA inaugurated the Canadian Championship – a domestic cup competition open to professional clubs in Canada.

In March 2011, it was announced Canada would host the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup for the first time, where they reached the quarterfinals.

[25][26] Prior to being de-sanctioned, the CSL had been involved in a match-fixing scandal and a majority of the teams reportedly did not meet CSA requirements in the 2012 season.

As in other English-speaking nations outside the United Kingdom, association football (soccer) has been traditionally overshadowed by a rival code of the game with explicitly local roots.

Despite the difference in popularity of their respective professional leagues, soccer overtook ice hockey in the 1980s and 1990s as the sport with the most registered players in the country.

[46] In 2022, League1 Canada was launched as an alliance for Ligue1 Québec, League1 Ontario and League1 British Columbia to unify and elevate the sport of soccer at the pro-am level through sharing of resources, best practices, and coordination of national commercial partnerships.