It is the penultimate Monday of 2025, and during this holiday week, we are just about ready to put a bow on the year that was.

Canada Soccer announced its Players of the Year this past week, recognizing two of the nation’s top ballers of 2025.

But looking to get a head start on a crucial 2026 year, a few Canadians made big moves in MLS this week, another went first overall in the draft and plenty more ahead in this week’s edition of The Northern Pitch.

Heads up: We’ll be off next week to take a well deserved holiday break, but don’t worry, we’ll be back in the new year!

Canada Soccer unveiled its Players of the Year for 2025 this week: CanWNT defender Vanessa Gilles, and CanMNT striker Jonathan David.

For both players, this is back-to-back years as the program’s Player of the Year. David also earned the honour back in 2019, making this his third Canada Player of the Year award.

David, who is also the reigning Concacaf Player of the Year, was the country’s most prolific scorer this year, not to mention the history of the men’s national team, with six goals and two assists.

At the club level, David completed a high-profile move to Italian giants Juventus after an outstanding stretch with Lille in France.

Gilles also made a big club move this year, as she joined Bayern Munich this summer. Like David, that also came after an outstanding run in France, where the 29-year-old won three French league titles with OL Lyonnes, and scored a stunning seven goals in her final season with the club. She already has three since joining Bayern.

She played eight times for Canada in 2025, scoring once in a win against Mexico. Gilles has eight goals in her 56 cap national team career.

Ahead of a World Cup year, the next month will feature some crucial and high-profile moves for Canadian men’s national team players.

Undoubtedly, one of the biggest looks to have taken place this past week, with CanMNT goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair revealing his departure from Minnesota United after seven seasons.

Reports have already heavily linked St. Clair—MLS Goalkeeper of the Year—to joining Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami, who also happen to be the defending MLS Cup Champions. He played 159 matches with Minnesota United after being selected 7th overall in the draft.

The move would be a smart one for St. Clair for two reasons: It provides a platform for him to play at a high level, while playing for a club that is watched worldwide. Unlike a move to Europe, he is basically guaranteed starting minutes with Miami out of the gate.

The move also offers St. Clair the opportunity to play in the Concacaf Champions Cup, something he has yet to do in his career with Minnesota. Miami, obviously, are a super team and therefore the optics of the move are complicated.

But Dayne has always played the villain role well, and a move to Miami could give him the playing time and confidence he needs to lock down Canada’s number one spot this summer.

Gatineau, Québec’s Nikola Markovic was the first name called in the 2026 MLS SuperDraft on Thursday by D.C. United.

The 21-year-old central defender was named the ACC Defender of the Year this season, his second with NC State. He started 21 of 22 matches, scoring twice and adding two assists. NC State went all the way to the NCAA Final, where they lost 3-2 to the Washington Huskies in extra time.

Listed at six-foot-four and 205 pounds, he is a mountain of a man who D.C. United expect will instantly have an impact at the professional level after signing a shiny Generation adidas contract. A previous CF Montréal academy player, he also came through AS Gatineau.

In the SuperDraft’s 26-year history, Markovic becomes the second Canadian to go first overall, joining Cyle Larin (2015). The MLS Draft has been kind to Canadians over the years with the likes of Dayne St. Clair, Kamal Miller, Moïse Bombito, Richie Laryea, Larin, Tajon Buchanan, Alistair Johnston and Tani Oluwaseyi all selected in recent years.

Markovic is the highest selected player in NC State history, and the first, evidently, to go first overall. The previous high was ninth overall pick Clément Simonin to Toronto FC in 2015.

He was one of five Canadians to be selected in this year’s draft. Former Whitecaps product Nikos Clarke-Tosczak, a defender from the University of Portland, was also taken in the first round, 19th overall by Sporting Kansas City.

Remi Agunbiade went 58th overall in the second round to the newest kids on the block, San Diego FC, while Charles-Emile Brunet and Jaheim Wickham went one pick apart at #80 and #82 to Nashville SC and Charlotte FC, respectively.

🇮🇹 A five-star week for Évelyne Viens. What’s a five-star week for a striker in red-hot form, you ask? Five goals in a single week, including a UWCL hat-trick is a good place to start. Viens helped light up Swiss side St. Pölten and Lombardy-based Lumezzane in 6-1 and 4-1 victories. Here’s goals one and two against the latter.

🇧🇪 Promise David scored again. Tobi’s not disproving any allegations that him being in the lineup is a cheat code for Union Saint-Gilloise. He kept Union three points clear of Club Brugge and retook top spot in the Golden Boot race in a 2-0 win over Zulte.

🇪🇸 Tajon Buchanan bright against Barcelona. A couple short years ago, and this sentence might’ve seemed unlikely, impossible even. But now, it’s normal fare for our Canadians. TJ came centimetres away from a goal against Barça on Sunday.

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🌳 Jayden Nelson joined Austin FC. The Whitecaps have traded the ex-TFC baller to Austin FC for $1.25 million GAM and a SuperDraft pick. This is a good deal for both parties, especially for Nelson as he was lacking game time with Vancouver.

🔴 Toronto FC selected Jackson Gilman. TFC have drafted the defender from the University of Pittsburgh. Before college ball, Gilman had played in the Philadelphia Union Academy.

🌊 Yohei Takaoka re-signed with the Caps. Vancouver has re-signed their reliable #1 through 2027. Takaoka had kept 13 clean sheets with 35 overall clean sheets since joining the Caps. The Japanese keeper is perhaps the most important defensive fixture in the Whitecaps backline.

🔵 CF Montreal signed a youth academy player. Josh-Duc Nteziryayo has signed with the first team on a Homegrown contract with CFM. The contract will see Nteziryayo for the next three seasons with the option for another three. The 17-year-old defender is the club’s 29th homegrown talent. He was a pivotal feature for Canada’s U17 in the FIFA U17 World Cup in Qatar. He has now been called up the Canada’s U20.

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⚜️ FC Supra announced three more players. Joakim Milli, Charles Auguste, and Oussama Boughanmi have been announced as the latest additions to FC Supra. All of the mentioned players have all played for CS Saint-Laurent in Ligue1 QC at various times. Goalkeeper Joakim Milli served time in Serie B and C in Italy. Charles Auguste has played for Houston Dynamo II, USL League 2 club Chicago FC United and for Haiti’s U20s. Oussama Boughnami played in Tunisia’s top-flight club Esperance ST. All of the players were born in Quebec, with the exception of Boughnami, who has lived in the province for an extended period of time.

🏙️ Ariel Almagro to Inter Toronto? It has been rumoured to make an international signing of the 24-year-old Ecuadorian winger. Almagro plays in Ecuador’s top-flight league with SD Aucas. If the rumour is valid, the Ollie Basset and Ariel Almagro combination will be a dangerous one.

🌾 Valour alums finding their footing. It’s been a few weeks since Valour officially shut their doors, and in that time, several players have signed abroad. Ireland’s Galway United have picked up Gianfranco Facchineri and Kris Twardek, home to many ex-CPL-ers. Kelsey Egwu and Myles Morgan are now stateside with Monterey Bay and New England Revolution II. Kianz Froese is off to Indonesia, while Aussie CB Tass Mourdoukoutas and Kiwi FW Oskar van Hattum are back on home soil.

🔱 Diego Konincks heads west. The CPL also won’t be totally missing ex-Winnipeg representation from last season’s group. Chicago Fire II loanee Konincks was picked up by Pacific as their first addition of the offseason earlier this week.

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🏆 St. John’s will host the 2026 U17 National Championship. Canada Soccer announced that St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, will be one of the host cities in the U17 Cup in 2026. The cup final will be played on Thanksgiving Monday, 12 October at the historic King George V Park.

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