Bidding for National Training Centre for Canadian soccer to go through Pickering, Ontario

The Durham Live entertainment complex in Pickering has thrown its hat into the Canadian soccer ring to host a future National Training Centre dedicated to high-performance soccer.

The centre will serve as a “cornerstone legacy project” from the 2026 FIFA World Cup, “a once-in-a-generation opportunity to strengthen our national sporting infrastructure, create a permanent home for Canadian soccer, and leave a lasting legacy for communities across the country,” Canada Soccer said in a news release.

The process is still in the information-gathering stage as Canada Soccer looks to identify stakeholders, including municipalities, provinces, soccer clubs, post-secondary institutions and other interested organizations with the “vision, infrastructure, and alignment to collaborate in building a world-class environment for player development, coaching education, and community engagement.”

Steve Apostolopoulos, the Managing Partner of Durham Live, was at a special meeting of Pickering Council Monday to gauge the city’s support and brought with him Canadian soccer legend Dwayne De Rosario (a three-time MLS champion) to help convince the councillors.

Dwayne De Rosario

Pickering Councillor Maurice Brenner said they didn’t need much convincing, with the city offering its full support.

“We’re certainly hoping Canada Soccer picks them. It would be great for Pickering.”

The Durham Live proposal would be up against several other competing communities, including Woodbine Entertainment in west Toronto, which has pledged land for a soccer-specific complex that would include a 38,000-square-foot training facility and a natural grass pitch, the City of Vaughan’s North Maple Regional Park and Vancouver, which is already home to an official training centre for the World Cup on the University of British Columbia grounds.

Other communities may also bid, with the submission deadline for the official Request For Information closing Thursday.

The proposed Durham Live site is about 60 acres, with just under half the land already zoned for such a project.

The remainder of the lands are zoned Natural Heritage and Open Space – with most of it wetlands – and Apostolopoulos would have to apply to the Municipal Affairs ministry for the zoning amendment.

The site is well serviced by public transit, with GO Train access through both the Pickering and Ajax GO Stations and is less than an hour from Toronto Pearson International Airport. The lands, as Brenner pointed out, are also adjacent to a hotel and entertainment complex, which might curry some favour with the selection committee.

Durhm Live Managing Partner Steve Apostolopoulos

Apostolopoulos told council in a letter the national centre would represent a “significant” economic development, tourism, and community-building opportunity, with the Durham Live lands offering a “rare combination” of scale, regional accessibility, infrastructure capacity, and mixed-use potential capable of supporting a project of this significance.

“We believe that locating the National Training Centre at Durham Live would establish Pickering as a nationally and internationally recognized sport and training destination, generate significant construction-phase and long-term employment, drive tourism, hospitality demand and year-round economic activity, provide meaningful community access, youth development pathways and regional pride, all tied to a lasting FIFA World Cup legacy.”

Canada Soccer expects to identify preferred locations by mid-2026, followed by a more formal Request for Proposals and funding alignment process.

The National Training Centre will be financed through a combination of FIFA World Cup 2026 legacy funds, federal and provincial investment, private and corporate partnerships (including naming rights opportunities) and municipal participation through land contributions, infrastructure support, tax incentives and in-kind services.

The Durham Live proposed site