Nation: Canada
FIFA ranking: 41st
World Cup achievements: Group stage (1986)

Sky Sports' Oliver Yew:

Canada are back at the World Cup for the first time in 32 years after finishing top of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying, level on points with Mexico, having won eight and drawn four of their 14 matches.

Qualification for the World Cup finals was sealed for just the second time, beating Jamaica 4-0 to book their ticket to Qatar and end 36 years of failure and heartache.

After sealing qualification, Canada coach John Herdman said: "We just qualified for the World Cup, this is a legit football country."

Now, they will look to make even more history and improve their World Cup record after the team at Mexico 1986 suffered three defeats and exited at the group stage.

Group F

Fixtures & results

Most recent squad

Route to final

Insight

All the talk about Canada heading into this World Cup will revolve around Alphonso Davies, but it’s worth noting that Herdman's side clinched their place in Qatar with the Bayern Munich star on the sidelines.

Davies was recovering from an inflammatory heart condition as he watched the celebrations in Toronto after Canada achieved what many thought wasn’t possible.

However, Canada, who upset the odds by finishing above both Mexico and USA, will be in Qatar and they want to show they belong there as the prepare to face Belgium, Croatia and Morocco.

It certainly won’t be easy for the Canucks when they face Belgium and Croatia, who finished second and third respectively, but with arguably the best squad they have ever assembled, they want to prove football is really on the up in Canada.

“Not many people think of Canada as a footballing country, because all they think about is hockey,” Davies said.

“We want to shift that mindset.”

After all they’ve achieved recently, you wouldn’t back against them causing a few more shocks in Qatar.

Player to watch

Name: Alphonso Davies
Position: Left-back
Club: Bayern Munich
Age: 21

There is no doubt about who Canada’s player to watch is!

Alphonso Davies’ rise from the MLS to Bayern Munich’s starting line-up has been phenomenal.

The 21-year-old has helped Bayern win the Champions League and four consecutive Bundesliga titles since joining from Vancouver Whitecaps in 2019.

He already has 34 caps for his country, and he’s shown his importance with 12 goals already so early in his international career.

Bayern team-mate Thomas Muller has described him as "a phenomenon" and "one of the hardest players to stop I have ever seen”, and now, at his first World Cup, he will be looking to showcase his blistering speed and lethal left foot as he looks to make a huge impact on the world stage.

Where will Canada stay?