Hockey, basketball, baseball, and possibly even lacrosse are all sports that would be associated with Canada before football, but the country’s footballing scene is on the rise. In 2022, the Reds qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 1986, and while they lost all three of their group stage matches in Qatar, they put up some decent fights, losing by just one goal each to Belgium and Morocco. Additionally, Canada finished fourth in the 2024 Copa América, picking up a win over Venezuela along the way.

The Reds enter the 2026 World Cup with fairly high hopes, as they’ll be playing all three of their group matches at home, and they have a reasonable group that features a trio of fairly inexperienced nations in Switzerland, Qatar, and Bosnia.

In the 2022 World Cup, left-back Alphonso Davies scored the only goal, a second-minute strike in the second match against Croatia, while in the 2024 Copa América, Jonathan David led the way with a pair of goals and Jacob Shaffelburg and Ismaël Koné each contributed one. Each is expected to feature at this summer’s tournament. Below, I’ll break down the DraftKings Sportsbook odds for Canada’s leading goalscorer at the 2026 World Cup.

Canada Top Goalscorer Odds

Jonathan David (+200)
Cyle Larin (+600)
Promise David (+600)
Lucas Cavallini (+1000)
Jayden Nelson (+1200)
Tani Oluwaseyi (+1200)
Alphonso Davies (+1200)
Tajon Buchanan (+1400)
No Canada Goalscorer (+1400)
Jacob Shaffelburg (+1600)
David Junior Hoilett (+1600)
Theodor Corbeanu (+1600)
Liam Millar (+1600)
Ismael Kone (+2000)
Stephen Eustaquio (+2000)
Jonathan Osorio (+2000)
Niko Sigur (+2500)
Nathan-Dylan Saliba (+2500)
Mark-Anthony Kaye (+2500)

Who will be Canada’s leading goalscorer? Pick, best bet

Because the Reds qualified automatically as the tournament’s co-hosts, they haven’t played any high-stakes competition since the Copa América, but they did participate in North America’s highest continental competition, the Gold Cup, in 2025. In that tournament, they won two games and drew with World Cup qualifiers Curaçao, but they were eliminated by Guatemala on penalties in the quarterfinals, in part because Shaffelburg earned a red card in the first half. Tajon Buchanan was the leading scorer in that tournament after smashing a brace past Honduras in the opener, and Jonathan David and Nathan-Dylan Saliba tied with a pair of goals apiece. In each of Canada’s March friendlies, it operated a 4-2-2-2, with David flanked Cyle Larin in one match and Tani Oluwaseyi in the other. David was the primary penalty taker during both the Copa América, the Gold Cup, and the March friendlies.

Given that the Reds aren’t particularly likely to make a deep run through the tournament — they have just +175 odds to advance to the Round of 16 — it’s possible that only one or two goals could end up being sufficient for the team lead. The easy pick would be David, given that he’ll likely be Canada’s penalty taker again during the tournament, but he hasn’t been in great form with Juventus, scoring just six goals in 34 Serie A appearances. For value, I like Oluwaseyi better; though he’s been a reserve during most of his stint at Villarreal, he has recently become a starter, which should give him valuable experience in big matches headed into the World Cup, and he seems to be Jesse Marsch’s preferred option as David’s strike partner. Both David and Oluwaseyi could be in line for big minutes at the tournament, given the Reds’ mediocre striker depth; Promise David could miss part of the tournament with a hip injury that he sustained in February. Larin has also made a decent case, smashing home eight goals in 16 appearances since joining Championship side Southampton, but La Liga is a higher-level competition.

The Pick: Tani Oluwaseyi (+1200)