JÄGER: Not every Canadian only cheers for Canada — and that's a beautiful thing

On June 12, Canada's men’s team played their first ever World Cup game on home soil. Just hours before the match against Bosnia and Herzegovina, Secretary of State for Sport, Adam van Koeverden, released a statement.

"To Canadians: this tournament reflects the country we know, shaped by many stories and many backgrounds," he said. "Throughout the tournament, we may cheer for different teams, but when Canada takes the field, we come together."

What if you're a Bosnian-Canadian?

I get what he's trying to do, but given Canada's diversity, I'm not a fan of that messaging. And for me, it's personal.

Since birth, both Canada and Germany have been home; I've lived life with one foot in either country. 

That duality has manifested itself in a number of ways, with varying levels of significance. For one thing, hopping on an international flight to see my grandparents as a kid was, to me, no more out of the ordinary than my friends driving a few kilometres to see theirs.

Everyone who knew the Jägers was well aware that we straddled the Atlantic, but rarely did that ever really set us apart from our neighbours. In Canada, we were always Canadian first — well, almost always.

There were a few weeks every four years when our house was filled with German flags, German clothes, German food, German words. One would be forgiven for thinking that we'd just arrived on the Lufthansa direct from Frankfurt.

I am, of course, talking about the World Cup. As the biggest, most important global sporting event, it's one of the only times unapologetic nationalism is not only tolerated, but celebrated.

In most countries, things are pretty straightforward; nearly everyone cheers for the place they were born, raised, and still live in. With nations built on immigration, however, it's more complicated.

For hyphenated Canadians, the choice was long an easy one. With Canada not in the competition, there could be no guilt in supporting another nation. In 2022, though, the men's national team broke an over 30-year drought and qualified.

I'd be lying if I said that I considered even for a second switching allegiances from Die Mannschaft to Les Rouges. Four years later, nothing's changed.

Don't get me wrong, if there's a game Canada's football team is in that doesn't involve or impact Germany, I'll cheer as loud as a Voyageur; I'm not a hater, nor a contrarian.

But if the two teams play each other — sorry!

In the lead up to the 2026 World Cup, I wondered whether the fact the games are in Canada would change the dynamic, or make Canadians self-conscious about supporting another team. So, I headed down to the FIFA Fan Fest at the PNE to find out.

Any concerns I had were quickly quashed as I walked into the Amphitheatre. What at first appeared to be a sea of red turned out to be, upon closer inspection, dotted with yellows, blues, whites, greens, and so on.

I counted 37 different countries represented in cloth-form. And the best part was, when Canada scored the equalizer, fans wearing all the colours of the rainbow jumped out of their seats — well, except those in Bosnian blue.

Even some of those who supported the Balkan squad were still sympathetic to their bright red rivals. I spoke with one fan prior to the match, for example, who told me he was born in Croatia, grew up in Bosnia, then fled to Canada as a refugee.

"So who are you cheering for?" I asked.

"We'll see," he replied, a grin on his face.

For so many Canadians, home is not a single place, and when our lives lead us across borders, across continents, across oceans, identity itself is transient. What we all have in common, however, is that Canada is our most recent home.

Those of us who have found comfort in the warm embrace of this great nation ought to cheer when our men in red take to the pitch. But that needn't come at the expense of supporting the others that have special places in our hearts.

During a recent Pride event, First Nations elder Verna McGregor said, "if we're all homogenous, life would be pretty boring," and honestly, I agree. That's especially true during this global spectacle.

Yes, national unity is nice — but we've got hockey for that. When it comes to football, Canada becomes the world. And that's a beautiful thing...