Get to know the NEW CALL-UPS in the CanMNT January camp roster 🇨🇦
By Alexandre Gangue-Ruzic & Mitchell Tierney
It has been a while since a Canadian men’s national team squad featured much experimentation.
With the World Cup drawing ever closer, Jesse Marsch has mostly been pretty chalk in his squad selections, knowing that getting his core group as many minutes as possible together is vital.
Later this month, however, he will be presented with a unique opportunity: the return of Camp Poutine. The national team’s January camp gives Marsch the chance to take a closer look at the country’s domestic-based talent, including in a January 17 friendly against Guatemala in Los Angeles (7 p.m. ET / 10 p.m. ET on OneSoccer).
The 20-player squad for the camp features seven players who have never before been called up to a full national team camp – including exciting dual-national 18-year-old Vancouver Whitecaps forward Rayan Elloumi.
It also includes a training player, Marius Aiyenero of LAFC 2. A standout with the Canadian U-17 side, Aiyenero scored the winning goal in Canada’s first-ever U-17 World Cup victory, a late penalty vs. Uganda.
Mitchell Tierney and Alex Gangué-Ruzic take a further look at the new faces in the national team camp:
DF - Noah Abatneh (Atlético Ottawa)
It was an incredible 2025 for Noah Abatneh, who at 21 won a Canadian Premier League championship with Atletico Ottawa and was nominated for the league’s Defender of Year award and Best Canadian U-21 Player of the Year.
He was the quarterback of the capital club’s incredibly young back three this season, demonstrating an elite ability to possess and progress the ball, either through passing or dribbling. Abatneh led the Canadian Premier League in passing percentage this season with a stunning 95.6 percent success rate and a league-leading 1,855 successful passes.
A former Canadian youth international at the U-20 level, Abatneh will get the opportunity to learn from established national team central defenders like Kamal Miller and Joel Waterman.
DF - Ralph Priso (Vancouver Whitecaps)
After a standout season with the Vancouver Whitecaps, Ralph Priso has earned a long-awaited call-up to the CanMNT, but not in the position he would’ve expected if you’d asked him months ago, arriving in 2026 as a centre back.
RALPH PRISO ON THE CLUTCH STOP 🤩🔥
— Vancouver Whitecaps FC (@WhitecapsFC) September 28, 2025
That's our starting centre back 😤https://t.co/SOCOLUSjXb#VWFC | #SEAvVAN pic.twitter.com/O1T1SKnOTg
Having transitioned seamlessly into that position at the end of 2025 to help the Whitecaps navigate an injury crisis, he’s now set to assume his new role long term at the club level, and that’s reflected in him being listed as a defender on this roster.
Therefore, while this isn’t his first Canadian camp, as he was part of a similar January roster back in 2021, that he comes while playing in a new position makes it feel like a fresh start for Priso, who will hope that he can build off a breakout 2025 campaign and crack the 2026 World Cup squad.
MF - Jeevan Badwal (Vancouver Whitecaps)
A former U-17 and U-20 standout, Jeevan Badwal is coming off the back of an impressive first full season with the Vancouver Whitecaps, as he made 33 appearances across all competitions for the first team.
An energetic, box-to-box midfielder, his style of play should stand out to Jesse Marsch, too, as he’s known for a relentless motor on both sides of the ball, and he’s still got plenty of growth to come in his game at just 19.
With another big year of development ahead for the Whitecaps, he looks to be a fascinating long-term piece to watch for this Canadian team - although the upside he showed in 2025 suggests he's not that far off in terms of cracking this Canadian squad in the next few years.
FW - Tiago Coimbra (Halifax Wanderers)
The Canadian Premier League’s Best Canadian U-21 Player of the Year for 2025, Coimbra has all the attributes to thrive in Jesse Marsch’s preferred system.
A clinical and aggressive striker, he is a handful for opposing backlines, whether he has the ball or not. Coimbra scored 12 goals during the CPL regular season for the Wanderers, adding one more in the playoffs, finishing the year with an impressive 0.87 goals per 90. He is also one of the best in the league at pressing opposing backlines, as well as aerial duels.
He does have a goal for Canada at the youth national team level, scoring against Saint Kitts and Nevis at the U-20 level. This is the first senior call-up for the player who once wore the name “Canadá” on the back of his kit as an homage to his heritage when he played for Palmeiras in Brazil.
GOAL ⚓️
— Canadian Premier League (@CPLsoccer) July 12, 2025
Level at Starlight! Tiago Coimbra gets a great header off the corner and the @HFXWanderersFC are level ⚽️#CanPL | 🔴 Watch LIVE on @onesoccer pic.twitter.com/a0NfsdLFNw
FB - Matteo de Brienne (GAIS)
After a strong debut season in Sweden with GAIS, Matteo de Brienne has earned his first Canadian call-up, sitting as the lone player not based in North America to crack the squad for this window.
Yet, that’s a credit to the work the 23-year-old put in 2025, as he was able to accumulate 25 appearances across all competitions in his debut season in Sweden, chipping in with two goals and two assists along the way.
With his strong work rate on both sides of the ball, he certainly looks capable of meeting the demands that will be placed on him in Jesse Marsch’s system, so he’ll hope to hit the ground running in this camp the same way he did with his new club.
FW - Rayan Elloumi (Vancouver Whitecaps)
In a bit of a surprise coup, Rayan Elloumi is the third Vancouver Whitecaps player included in this squad, as he had represented Tunisia’s youth teams in the fall, and looked potentially poised to maybe even earn a senior call in the immediate future.
Yet, that call never came, and that’s kept the door open for Canada, who will try hard to pursue the talented 18-year-old, who burst onto the scene for the Whitecaps in 2025.
Despite starting the year on their second team, he worked his way up to earn a first-team deal after a hot start, scoring two goals and adding two assists in 12 appearances with the Whitecaps in the second half of the season. More impressively, he also showed good poise and IQ in his limited stint, and already looks comfortable physically in MLS despite his age.
Sebastian Berhalter drops a dime to Rayan Elloumi. 🎯@WhitecapsFC strike first against San Jose. pic.twitter.com/QSDR1hVCfc
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) October 5, 2025
For what it’s worth, it was always unclear whether or not Tunisia’s first team was set to pursue Elloumi, as they’re also undergoing preparation for a World Cup year - the likeliest outcome for Elloumi would’ve been to join their Arab Cup team in December, as playing in that tournament wouldn’t have cap-tied him to Tunisia, anyways, but the Whitecaps deep run in the MLS Cup playoffs ended up overlapping with that tournament.
Either way, Elloumi had left the door open to Canadian interest in the fall, showing that he was looking to earn an opportunity like this - now, he’ll want to make the most of this opportunity.
MF - Shola Jimoh (Inter Toronto FC)
The youngest player in this Canadian squad is 17-year-old Inter Toronto attacker Shola Jimoh. Having represented Canada at multiple youth levels, Jimoh is one of the most exciting young players in the national team player pool.
The wide attacker already has 41 games of professional experience under his belt in all competitions with Inter Toronto, across which he has provided an impressive four goals and six assists. A dynamic young winger who excels at creating chances from wide areas, Jimoh would love to make his full national team debut at this camp.
Jimoh also recently represented Canada at the U-17 World Cup, playing a key role in a historic tournament where Canada advanced for the first time, and scoring in the group stage against Chile. He previously trained with the national team at a camp in Toronto but this is his first full senior national team callup.
