Here are the CanMNT players playing in UEFA club competitions this season
While most European leagues have been back in action for at least a few weeks now (with some almost nearing two months of play since they kicked off the 2025-2026 campaign), this week marks the return of the continent’s marquee men’s club competitions - the UEFA Champions League, Europa League and Conference League.
After a couple of months of gruelling qualifiers to round out the field, we now know which 108 teams will compete for the three trophies on offer (with 36 teams apiece in each of those three respective competitions).
UEFA Champions League AND Europa League on OneSoccer!? 🤩
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) September 8, 2026
Yup. It's real. We've got Villarreal, Atlético Madrid and Bayern Munich this week 🏆
Thank you to the actual GOATs of Canadian sports broadcasting, DAZN 🤝 🐐 pic.twitter.com/xNEkkrjUnb
Of course, for most players, the big goal will be to lift the Champions League, with that trophy standing as arguably the most prestigious piece of silverware on offer in club soccer right now. Lifting the Champions League trophy is now a huge career ambition for most players, and for good reason.
At the same time, don’t discount the importance of the Europa League, which has remained a key trophy for teams and players to covet - and despite its relatively new existence, the Conference League has also become an important piece of silverware, albeit for smaller clubs.
From a Canadian perspective, this promises to be an exciting season for fans following all three competitions, with significant Canadian flavour across each tournament - there are seven Canadians to watch in the UCL, four more in the UEL, and two in the UECL.
Now, it remains to be seen whether any of those Canadians can triumph and lift these trophies, something that hasn’t happened all that often in the past - as it stands, Alphonso Davies is the lone CanMNT player to win one of the men’s UEFA competitions, as he won the Champions League with Bayern Munich in 2019-2020. Therefore, if any Canadians end up lifting a European trophy this season, it’ll be a big deal, even if it’s the Europa League or Conference League.
With that in mind, here’s what to expect from the 13 Canadians who will participate in those three different UEFA men’s club competitions this season.
As a reminder, you can now watch three UEFA Champions League and three UEFA Europa League games a week LIVE on OneSoccer in partnership with DAZN, with an emphasis on Canadian players featuring in both competitions.
There's nothing quite like those European nights ✨ 🏆
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) September 8, 2026
In partnership with our friends at DAZN, OneSoccer is honoured to broadcast 3x UEFA Champions League & UEFA Europa League matches per week, with an emphasis on featuring Canadian men's national team stars 🇨🇦 🤩#CanMNT pic.twitter.com/789aKEzSYp
Champions League:
Alphonso Davies (Bayern Munich):
It’s a huge Champions League campaign for Davies and Bayern Munich, as they made a strong push for last year’s trophy, but lost to eventual winners Paris Saint-Germain in a thrilling semi-final, with PSG winning 6-5 on aggregate.
After last winning in 2019-2020, Bayern’s results in the Champions League have been mixed in the past six years - they reached the semi-finals in both 2025-2026 and 2023-2024, losing to the eventual winners each time (they lost to Real Madrid in 2023-2024), but they have otherwise exited in the quarter-finals each of the other four years.
Because of that, it feels like the goal is simple for Vincent Kompany’s team - win it all. Of course, that’s the objective for every team, but for Bayern, it feels like anything but winning it will be a massive disappointment, as they’ve certainly got the squad to make this happen, led by stars such as Harry Kane and Michael Olise, and supported by the likes of Joshua Kimmich, Jamal Musiala, Luis Diaz, Dayot Upamecano and countless others.
As for Alphonso Davies, his objective is to get back on the field for these big UCL games, as he looks to add to the 57 appearances he’s already made in the Champions League. While he featured eight times last season, including in both legs of Bayern’s quarter-final matchup against Real Madrid and their semi-final against PSG, he only started once across those eight games, as he featured for just 212 minutes as he returned from a major knee injury (and the subsequent muscle injuries he dealt with upon his return) - that’s his lowest minutes total in a Champions League campaign since he joined Bayern.
When dreams come true...
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) July 25, 2022
Four successful years with Bayern for Alphonso Davies 🏆🥇#UCL pic.twitter.com/o1F9QWKyDO
Despite that, he still had two assists, putting him up to 11 all-time, along with three goals- numbers he’ll look to add to this season.
Given that he’s so far looked back to his best for Bayern to start this new season, looking strong technically and physically, a strong personal UCL campaign could be on the cards for Davies as long as he stays healthy.
Jonathan David (Atlético Madrid):
Atlético Madrid’s quest for a first Champions League title continues, as the three-time Europa League winners are hungry to win the competition that they’ve come so close to winning on a pair of occasions, losing in the final against fierce rivals Real Madrid in both the 2013-2014 and 2015-2016 campaigns.
After reaching the semi-finals of last year’s competition, where they fell to Arsenal 2-1 on aggregate, Atlético will feel they’re capable of another deep run, and for good reason, as they’ve made some big signings in the transfer market. Kang-In Lee, Morten Hjulmand, Cristian Romero and Alejandro Grimaldo are some of the names they’ve added, and they retained Julián Alvarez despite interest from Barcelona (although it remains to be seen what sort of headspace he’s in to contribute to this Atlético side after how that saga went down).
And, of course, they added Jonathan David on loan, as the CanMNT striker joins from Italian giants Juventus, where he had a trying debut season.
He brings strong Champions League pedigree to the table, as he’s scored 12 goals in 27 appearances in this competition, including seven goals in 10 games in 2024-2025 with Ligue 1 side Lille OSC - form that earned him the move to Italy in the first place.
Jonathan David levels it for Lille at Anfield 🇨🇦🫡
— DAZN Canada (@DAZN_CA) January 21, 2025
📺 Watch the #UCL live on DAZN pic.twitter.com/kaLs8ynz1E
Even despite his struggles last year, he still scored twice in 397 minutes across nine appearances in the Champions League, which isn’t that bad, all things considered.
Now, he’ll look to return to his past UCL level at his new club, as he auditions for a permanent move to the Spanish capital - certainly, a few big goals en route to another deep Champions League run would be a good way for him to do that.
Tajon Buchanan (Villarreal CF):
For Canadian fans watching this competition as a neutral, Villarreal games will be hard to skip, as they’ve now got three Canadians playing together in Tajon Buchanan, Tani Oluwaseyi and Nathan Saliba, who all started Villarreal’s first Champions League fixture of this season together.
The second straight season they’re playing in the UCL, this is the first time that they’ve ever participated in back-to-back campaigns, and they’ll hope this year is better than last year, when they lost seven and drew one of their eight league phase games.
As for Buchanan, it was also a disappointing UCL campaign for him, as he was unable to generate a goal contribution across seven appearances (430 minutes), after having generated two assists in his six previous appearances in this competition, which came with Club Brugge in 2022-2023.
CLUB BRUGGE SCORE AGAIN!
— DAZN Canada (@DAZN_CA) October 4, 2022
The Belgian side are up 2-0 against Atletico Madrid and are well on their way to a third consecutive #UCL group stage win 🔥 pic.twitter.com/bNdMgamzSl
Because of that, he’ll want to put in some big performances in this tournament, especially after having had a quiet World Cup by his standards, as he looks to remind fans of what he can do in big games - it can’t be forgotten that he’s typically been regarded as a clutch performer for club and country in the past.
Tani Oluwaseyi (Villarreal CF):
Despite Villarreal’s 2025-2026 UCL struggles, Tani Oluwaseyi did take advantage of the opportunity that those woes provided him - he scored two goals in seven appearances in this competition last year, with those goals coming in Villarreal’s last three games, where it was clear that they were going to be eliminated and rotated their squad with that in mind.
That’s why Oluwaseyi was also able to play 90 minutes three times across Villarreal’s last four UCL games, after only playing 84 minutes across Villarreal’s first four matches, as Villarreal used those games to give players like him more opportunities to play.
WHAT A GOAL FROM TANI OLUWASEYI IN THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE 😱🔥
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) January 20, 2026
(🎥: DAZN) pic.twitter.com/vHeHm0M09D
For someone who was in his first full season of European club football, it’s hoped that experience can benefit Oluwaseyi as he makes his return to the competition, as he’s now gotten a taste of what the game looks like at the highest level.
Of course, it remains to be seen how much Oluwaseyi will play in matches like this, as he’s not had the most regular role with Villarreal as of late, but it looks like he should get a decent shot at minutes in this competition with the club’s main priority being to secure another strong league finish - if that’s the case, then Oluwaseyi will then want to do well in these games to earn more playing time in La Liga action.
Nathan Saliba (Villarreal CF):
Nathan Saliba is one of a trio of Canadian debutants in this competition, as he joined Villarreal off the back of an excellent first season in Europe with Belgian side RSC Anderlecht, and an even better World Cup with the CanMNT.
He’s gotten a taste of European action before, as he played in Europa League qualifying for Anderlecht both last year and this year, and also played in Conference League qualifying last year (even scoring in that competition), but this will be his first time playing in the league phase of any European competition - and it comes in the Champions League, to boot.
Because of that, look for him to try and make the most of this opportunity, as he should hopefully get a chance to impress in this competition, given that he’s already been trusted to play a pretty big role for his new club upon his arrival.
Plus, since it’s Saliba’s Champions League debut, each of these fixtures will mean a lot more for him, as he gets acquainted with the top level of European football. With Buchanan and Oluwaseyi having already played in the Champions League before, it won’t be as big of a deal to see them participate in these bigger games, but for Saliba, it’ll be exciting to see him navigate a schedule that includes clashes against two-time defending champions PSG, Liverpool, Borussia Dortmund, Napoli and Manchester United, among others- teams he’ll have dreamed of playing when he was at CF Montréal just over a year ago.
Adonija Ouanda (Slavia Prague):
At the start of the 2025-2026 season, Adonija Ouanda was playing in the second division of Serbia. Now, just a year later, the 21-year-old is earning minutes on a team that will play in the Champions League.
Yet, this isn’t that surprising to see, as Ouanda has been turning a lot of heads over the last year, starting when he was loaned from Slavia Prague to Slovacko in the top flight of Czech football halfway through the 2025-2026 season. Having swooped up Ouanda from Serbia, the Slavia Prague faithful gave him the opportunity to ease into the Czech game by joining a relegation side, and that ended up being a masterclass of a decision, as he scored four goals and added three assists in 17 appearances for Slovacko.
As a result, he’s started the year with Slavia Prague, and he’s so far scored one goal and added one assist in three games, further putting him on the radar of Canadians who have been tracking him as a potential recruit for the CanMNT.
🇨🇦🔥 Bryan Started The Fire#sksfcs pic.twitter.com/jYxyKCI8As
— SK Slavia Praha (@slaviaofficial) July 26, 2026
Because of that, you have to imagine he’ll get the opportunity to feature in some form during this Champions League campaign, their second straight participation in the competition. After drawing three and losing five of their league phase games last season, with the draws coming against Bodø/Glimt, Atalanta and Athletic Bilbao, they’ll want to find a way to get a victory under their belts this season.
They’ve got some fun matchups, including a game against last year’s finalists Arsenal, as well as clashes against Bayern Munich and Villarreal - in particular, it’d be fascinating to see Ouanda feature in those latter two fixtures, where he could play against what you imagine are his future CanMNT teammates Davies, Buchanan, Oluwaseyi and Saliba, teammates who he’ll hope to share the field with at the international level as soon as this fall.
Nael Kane (LASK):
For the first time in their history, LASK have cracked the group stage of the UEFA Champions League, as the Austrian side qualified in dramatic fashion after a remarkable comeback against Scottish giants Celtic in the final round of qualifying, one where they came back from 4-0 down to win 5-4 on aggregate.
Because of that, their goal this tournament will be to hold their own and compete, and make the most of the chance to play giants such as Real Madrid and Liverpool, among others.
As for Nael Kane, the young Canadian would love to earn an opportunity to see the pitch in one of those games, which could become more likely as the tournament goes on. For now, he remains quite inexperienced at the professional level, featuring just six times for LASK’s first team, although he did score twice and add an assist in a recent Austrian Cup fixture - that could be a sign that the 20-year-old is on track to earn a bigger role in the weeks and months to come.
With five of those first-team appearances all coming this season (his lone other appearance came all the way back in 2024-2025), that’s another sign that he’s looked to have graduated from LASK’s second team, where he’s racked up over 40 appearances.
Certainly, Canadian fans will be keeping an eye on Kane, as he’s another exciting attacking prospect worth monitoring, and his stock will only rise further if he sees the field for a Champions League match.
Europa League:
Derek Cornelius (Olympique de Marseille):
To shift over to the Europa League, the first name is a player who has experience in this competition, and that’s Derek Cornelius, who played three games for Scottish side Rangers FC in last year’s edition.
Otherwise, though, Cornelius has no other previous experience in any European competition, so he’ll hope he’s able to play some sort of role with Marseille, who he looked close to leaving on deadline day before some potential moves outwards fell through.
DEAL OFF❌ #CanMNT centre-back Derek Cornelius won't be heading to Spain to join La Liga outfit Rayo Vallecano and will instead remain in Ligue 1 with Olympique de Marseille
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) September 1, 2026
Here's what Kristian Jack is hearing about Cornelius's situation pic.twitter.com/EPXk4d6eSY
After a disappointing 2025-2026 Champions League campaign, one where they did well to win three out of eight games but missed out on qualification to the knockout rounds on goal difference (they were the team knocked out by Benfica’s famed goalkeeper goal on the last matchday of the league phase), they’ll hope they can make a deep run in this competition.
Despite winning the Champions League in the 1990s, they’ve never won the Europa League, losing three times in the final - they fell twice in 1999 and 2004 to Parma and Valencia, respectively (back when it was called the UEFA Cup), before losing to Atlético Madrid in the 2018 edition of this tournament.
Can Cornelius help them with that quest? It remains to be seen, as he’ll be battling just to earn any sort of minutes, but this competition should help him get on the field in some fashion if Marseille rotates their squad, whether that’s in league play or for these UEL games.
At the very least, Marseille’s league phase clash against Celtic is one Canadians will be closely watching, as a matchup against CanMNT teammate Alistair Johnston could be on the cards on that day.
Alistair Johnston (Celtic FC):
Speaking of Alistair Johnston, he enters this competition as a relative newcomer - he made his Europa League debut last season, but only made one appearance as he struggled with injuries. After racking up 16 Champions League appearances, he’ll hope that experience can help him push Celtic to a deep run in this competition, especially after they bowed out in the playoff round last year.
Given how they missed out on qualifying for this year’s Champions League, too, in that shocking defeat to LASK, pressure will be on for them to do well - this is a team that is always expected to play in the Champions League (they won it back in 1967), so anytime they miss out on that competition, questions are raised.
To return to Johnston, though, his main goal is to get back and healthy, as his injury problems have returned at the start of this season. Given how good he looked for Celtic upon his return at the end of last season, and at the World Cup for the CanMNT, it’s been unfortunate to see him on the sidelines again - and if not for that injury, he might’ve been at a club in the Premier League right now, with there being interest in him making a move in the transfer window before he was sidelined.
Take a bow, indeed 😎
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) February 18, 2025
Despite a late Alphonso Davies goal to seal the result for Bayern Munich, #CanMNT star Alistair Johnston earned plenty of praise for his showing in Leg 2 of this #UCL clash 🏆 pic.twitter.com/90NniTo7F3
Because of that, his focus will be to get back on the pitch and return to his best level, which will hopefully allow him to contribute more to this year’s Europa League campaign than he did last year’s.
Daniel Jebbison (AFC Bournemouth):
For the first time in their history, AFC Bournemouth will play European football, as they qualified for the Europa League after finishing sixth in the Premier League in 2025-2026.
While it was a bittersweet moment, as they only missed out on the Champions League by three points, they won’t dwell on that too much - at the end of the day, playing in the Europa League is a massive achievement for a team who were in the second division of England earlier this decade.
Plus, as an English team, they’ll feel confident in their chances of winning this trophy given that the two last winners came from the Premier League in Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur. Of course, for a team just playing in Europe for the first time, they’ll be more focused on putting in a good account of themselves and setting the groundwork to make more regular appearances in European competitions going forward, but their ambitions will still be big given what they’ve accomplished over the last few years.
For Canadian Daniel Jebbison, he’ll hope this competition can provide an opportunity for him to cut his teeth with the Cherries, as he’s so far only played 299 minutes across 24 appearances since joining the club ahead of the 2024-2025 season. He’s also been on loan during that time, as he spent a half-season in the EFL Championship with Watford in 2024-2025 before joining Preston North End for the entirety of the 2025-2026 Championship season, but he started this season as a full-time Bournemouth player.
Certainly, if Bournemouth are to do well in this competition, while also keeping their focus on the league, they’ll have to rotate and get players like Jebbison out on the pitch in some form - whether that’s in league play or in Europe remains to be seen.
Zachary Zalewski (Jagiellonia Białystok):
For the first time, Jagiellonia Białystok will play in the Europa League, as the Polish side, who played in the Conference League each of the last two seasons, have reached the league phase of this tournament after beating Scottish side Rangers and Georgian side Iberia 1999 in the qualifying rounds.
Now, they’ll hope their experience in the Conference League (they made a run to the quarter-finals in 2024-2025 before losing in the playoff round in 2025-2026) can help them as they make the step up to the Europa League.
Hopefully helping them in that quest will be 17-year-old Zachary Zalewski, who is a Canadian and Polish dual national who was born in Windsor, Ontario. A winger, he’s already made six appearances for Jagiellona’s first team, with five of them coming last season and one coming this season, along with over 20 appearances for Poland’s U16 and U17 teams.
He remains a constant for Jagiellona’s second team, so it remains to be seen whether he gets called up to their first team for these Europa League fixtures, but Canadians will be keeping a close eye on him if he does - you’d have to imagine that the CanMNT would be interested in getting him to switch allegiances to their ranks if he continues to progress the way he has at his age.
Conference League:
Promise David (Brighton & Hove Albion):
Lastly, in the Conference League, a pair of Canadians will compete in that competition, and they’re both on the same team, as Promise David and Tom McGill are part of a Brighton & Hove Albion playing just their second-ever European campaign.
Brighton qualified for the Europa League in 2023-2024, where they made the Round of 16 - now, they’ll hope they have a deep run in the cards for their Conference League debut.
Given that three of the five teams who have won this competition since it was launched in 2021-2022 have been Premier League sides, with West Ham winning in 2022-2023, Chelsea in 2024-2025 and Crystal Palace in 2025-2026, Brighton will feel more than capable of lifting this trophy next spring.
Certainly, someone like David could prove to be crucial for them in this quest - the CanMNT striker shone in European competition last year for Union St-Gilloise, scoring twice in seven Champions League appearances in USG’s first-ever season in that competition.
CLINICAL INSIDE THE 18-YARD BOX 🎯🤩
— DAZN Canada (@DAZN_CA) November 25, 2025
Promise David scores his second of the 2025-26 UEFA Champions League campaign to give Union Saint-Gilloise the 1-0 lead vs Galatasaray 🇨🇦⚽️#UCL | @CANMNT_Official | @DAZNFootball | @UnionStGilloise
Having also scored once in two previous Europa League appearances, you’d have to imagine David does well in the Conference League - after all, he’s scored wherever he’s gone, which is why he was able to go from playing in Malta, to Estonia, to Belgium, and now the Premier League in a matter of years, while also becoming a CanMNT player along the way.
He’s still looking to carve out a more regular role with Brighton, but as is the case with many other Canadians, this competition will provide the opportunity for him to earn rotation minutes - as well as offer the chance for him to build confidence, given his past European experience. Because of that, this competition could prove to be quite key for him.
Tom McGill (Brighton & Hove Albion):
Will this be the season where Tom McGill finally makes his first-team debut for Brighton? Despite racking up almost 100 appearances for their U18 and U21 teams, McGill is still waiting for that first appearance for the first team, which he’ll hope changes this year, especially with Brighton’s qualification to the Conference League.
With Bart Verbruggen the undisputed #1 goalkeeper, it’ll be fascinating to see if McGill can earn rotation minutes in this competition, or if Brighton will lean on Verbruggen to help them make a deep run.
Plus, there’s also the question of who is Brighton’s backup at this stage, with veteran Jason Steele still looking to be ahead of McGill in the pecking order, so the reality is that he might be the option that is leaned on in a rotation role instead of McGill, anyways.
So for Canadian fans, they’ll just hope to see McGill at all this season - either way, it’s a surprise to see him remain at the club, as one would’ve expected him to have sought out a move to play more, given that he’s now 26.
