The World Cup: Soccer stats versus StatCan stats

Canada is the host country for Group B in the World Cup, squaring off against Switzerland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Qatar for a shot at the knockout stage. According to FIFA, Switzerland is the highest ranked national team in Group B, at 19th, while Canada ranks 30th, Qatar, 55th, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, 64th. Let’s see how our World Cup competition stacks up based on our stats.

Canada is home to hundreds of different ethnic or cultural origins, and the allegiance of some fans may be torn between their current home in Canada and their ancestral home.

During the 2021 Census, 145,570 people reported a Swiss origin, while 28,490 people reported a Bosnian origin and 2,775 people, a Bosniak origin. Of note, you will find no Qataris listed in the 2021 Census ethnic or cultural origin data. However, this does not mean no Qataris live in Canada. It just means they may have reported a different origin such as Arab or Indian, which were the top ethnic or cultural origins reported by the 4,955 people born in Qatar living in Canada in 2021. 

Meanwhile, almost 6.6 million people reported Canadian or French Canadian as their ethnic or cultural origin, giving Canada a clear home field advantage when it comes to cheering during the group phase.

Canada conducts trade with all countries in its group, with Switzerland being its most important trading partner of the three by far.

In 2025, Canada exported $2.6 billion of goods to Switzerland, while importing $10.3 billion. While Switzerland leads the group in terms of trade with Canada, its share of total trade with Canada is relatively small. Indeed, Switzerland accounted for 0.3% of all exports and 1.3% of all imports in Canada.

Exports to Qatar totalled $141.9 million, while imports topped $213.2 million.

The minnow of the group in terms of trade with Canada is Bosnia and Herzegovina, with $6.3 million in exports and $34.8 million in imports in 2025.

Hopefully, Canada’s negative net trade with all three nations is not a harbinger of a goal deficit in the upcoming tournament!

Switzerland is the leading country in the group when it comes to FIFA rankings, and in terms of overseas countries travel to Canada, where it ranks 15th. Overall, Swiss residents made 111,865 visits to Canada in 2025.

Chances are, a record high number of Qataris and people of Bosnia and Herzegovina may well be visiting Canada in 2026 to cheer on their national teams, given how historically low annual travel is from these countries.

In 2025, Qataris made 9,756 visits to Canada, making it Canada’s 74th most important overseas market in terms of visits. Visits from Bosnian-Herzegovina were even less frequent, with 1,286 visits, placing it as Canada’s 151st most important overseas travel market.