Six years ago, Ali Ahmed was contemplating his future in the game after trials at non-league English clubs such as Enfield Town, Cheshunt FC and Tooting & Mitcham United all came to nothing. Now the wing wizard is playing a starring role with Norwich City in the English Championship and looking forward to the FIFA World Cup 2026™ with Canada.
Ahmed’s journey to the top — which has included pitting his wits against Argentina legend Lionel Messi at the 2024 CONMEBOL Copa America — is a testament to his incredible resilience and even more dazzling skills on the ball. But there was a time when the 25-year-old, stuck in Covid regulations far away from home in England and with no income of his own to call upon, thought his dream might be over.
The Toronto native, who is of Ethiopian descent, made a bold decision in 2018 to turn down an academy contract with Toronto FC to try his luck in Europe. It did not work out at all for the then 17-year-old. At one point, Ahmed was paying out of his own pocket — more accurately, the pockets of his parents — to stay in a dingy Lisbon hotel for a six-week trial with the Belenenses Under-19s. Unable to sign for the club until he turned 18, Ahmed patiently waited for his milestone birthday, but when it came there was no offer on the table.
Frustrated and dejected, Ahmed tried his luck in Spain, the Netherlands, Portugal once again and then England over the course of 2019 and 2020 to secure a professional contract without any success. He packed his bags to return to Canada and secured a lifeline with a deal to train with the Vancouver Whitecaps development squad in 2021. It was a decision which completely changed his life.
A year later, Ahmed secured a professional contract with Whitecaps 2 and was soon called up to the first team in Major League Soccer. The national team quickly took notice of the gifted left winger and he made his debut at the 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup before taking part in the Copa America a year later.
After a standout season with the Whitecaps in 2025, which included scoring their lone goal in the 3-1 defeat to Messi’s Inter Miami in the MLS Cup final, Ahmed finally secured his lifelong dream move to Europe, with Norwich City in January. He has made an immediate mark with three goals and two assists in ten appearances to date.
Ahmed is eagerly anticipating a home World Cup with Canada, who have been drawn in Group B alongside Qatar, Switzerland and the winner of UEFA Play-off Path A, which will be Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, Northern Ireland or Wales.
He spoke to FIFA about his thoughts on Canada’s group-stage draw, his amazing backstory, lining up against Messi, his fine start at Norwich and the incredible impact of head coach Jesse Marsch.
Ali Ahmed: A World Cup in itself is something that every single professional football player dreams about… the highest aspirations in their career… and then to experience a home World Cup which is very, very rare especially for us in Canada, it’s going to be a very exciting time. For me, walking out in the city and the stadium that I grew up in [in Toronto] doesn’t even sound real until it [happens].
Toronto is a sports city and one of the best in the world. It has hockey, basketball, [American] football, soccer… everything. The fans are really passionate and really loud. I’ve played plenty of games at Toronto Stadium and the atmosphere is never in question, it’s always loud no matter who we are playing. There are chances of playing Italy and the Italian population in Toronto in massive, so half might be blue and half might be red so it would be a crazy game.
I think it’s not as much [of a challenge] as we had at Qatar 2022 and also we obviously have more experience having competed at the 2022 World Cup. I think it is a fair group and there is a fair chance for everyone in the group. Switzerland is a top footballing nation and Qatar is up and coming, so it’s going to be a challenge for sure but any match in a World Cup is a challenge. Every team is there for a reason.
It’s been amazing, it’s a great club. You have games every two days so it’s a bit hectic but playing here and experiencing the football heritage you get to see how much football means over here and how much every game, every play matters. It’s a high level and this is what you want to play and compete in.
It’s a step up and a good challenge. There are pressures and expectations to deliver every week. The pressure of each game is similar to the World Cup and you have relegation here so it feels like very game is so important. I think it’s a good step to take moving on from MLS.
It’s crazy to think that I was here four, five years ago playing six tiers lower than I am now. It’s football. In a career, you learn that football is crazy and every player has their own journey to get to where they are. But if you ask me then when I was getting denied from teams in the seventh and eighth tier that that I would be back in five years playing in the Championship, I don’t know if I would have believed it.
You have to think about it a little bit, especially when you are getting older and not seeing opportunities and getting denied more than you are accepted. So there might have been a slight thought of that but not too much.
Everything happens so fast and you have time to reflect after and really be grateful and appreciate all these moments, especially when you go through adversity and struggle to get to where you want to get to. You cherish, appreciate and are more grateful for moments like that. So when you are in a Copa America playing Argentina and Messi, you reflect and see that you’ve come a long way and it’s crazy to see.
He has been massive for Canada, he has helped every player flourish and bring the best out of themselves. You can see a lot of players, ever since he joined, hit a different level and got themselves big moves to big teams. He cares about his players on and off the field. He is more than a coach and brings the best out of everybody.
It’s big for sure. Football is the biggest sport in Ethiopia and there’s not many who get to make it professionally. Of course, I am representing Canada but a big part of me is obviously my parents and where they are from, which is Ethiopia. Being Ethiopian is a big part of my identity and I want to show [the country] that it is possible for us to be playing in World Cups and things like that.
We need this. The game in Canada is growing and has grown a lot in the past five-ten years and when people see a World Cup in Canada and what it means to the country and the people who love football in the country, it will only help grow the game and bring the audience to try to help take it to another level and I’m excited to see that. There is a lot of talent in the country and it just needs a little tweak in the infrastructure from the youth to the men’s senior level and I think a World Cup will help with that.
