In the driving Edmonton rain, Canada’s men’s national team stepped off their team bus and into another level of popularity.
To shield themselves from the elements before last week’s pre-World Cup friendly against Uzbekistan, Canada abandoned their typical army green and black training gear. They instead donned new black, red and yellow tracksuits decorated with a newfound, audacious flair. Flames appeared to crawl up the arms of the tracksuits. They were not the look of a team stepping tentatively into a World Cup, but one trying to make a statement.
Hours after photos of the new tracksuits circulated on social media, another statement was made.
“FITTTTTTTTERS” famed Canadian rapper Drake commented about the tracksuits from his Instagram account.
Why?
The tracksuits were made by NOCTA, the collaboration between Drake’s brand and Nike, Canada’s kit manufacturer. The images swept through social media. Many other pieces of Canada’s warm-up gear were made by NOCTA. The brand name is splashed across the front of T-shirts Canadian players proudly wore into their final pre-World Cup friendly against the Republic of Ireland, a 1-1 draw.
This is part of what Canada undoubtedly want: Unlike the United States and Mexico, who both have a lengthy history at the World Cup and who have hosted World Cups before, for Canada, co-hosting this World Cup is about announcing themselves as a soccer country.
“We’ve done a lot of things to build momentum publicly about what this experience is going to be and to make sure it’s authentically Canadian,” Canada head coach Jesse Marsch said of the tracksuits.
And yet…
Canadians are among many around the world familiar with what can happen when Drake aligns himself with a team. It’s called the Drake Curse. When the rapper — whose global popularity is surpassed by very few figures — publicly presents himself as a fan of a team or an athlete, stark losses often follow. Take this with tongue planted firmly in cheek but there is mounting evidence to suggest the Drake Curse is real.
Now, we have to ask, speculatively, of course: Having aligned themselves with the world-famous rapper, could Canada fall victim to the Drake Curse at the World Cup?
“I don’t care about it,” Marsch told The Athletic, affirming he knows about the Drake Curse. “I’m not cool enough to know enough about all these things but when I saw the NOCTA warmups, I thought they were awesome. The guys were psyched on it.”
“I’m not worried about it,” Canada defender Alistair Johnston said of the curse. “We’re still at that stage where the more people we can get onboard, the more global and international we can make this tournament for us, the better.”
This may only appeal to the diehards but when I followed Canada behind the scenes during an away game in Suriname of all places, Marsch showed me clips from a video he was using to recruit a dual national. Drake’s songs provided the soundtrack. I asked him if he was familiar with the Drake Curse. At the time, he said he wasn’t.
The player Marsch and Canada were trying to recruit with that video did not make their World Cup squad.
Before we go any further, let’s zoom out and answer a question Johnston himself posed to The Athletic.
“Who has actually been cursed by Drake?” he asked inquisitively.
The early signs of the Drake Curse emerged in 2014, when Drake took his affinity for the powerhouse University of Kentucky men’s basketball program to a new level. Drake entered Kentucky’s locker room after their 2014 Final Four win and gave a giddy, enthusiastic pep talk. Two days later, the team lost in the national championship game to the University of Connecticut. Kentucky has not won a national championship since.
Drake at the 2015 U.S. Open (Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
Remember the women’s U.S. Open in 2015? Serena Williams was on the verge of a historic calendar Grand Slam, having already won the three other major tournaments. Williams was rumoured to be in a relationship with Drake. He sat in the stands for Williams’ U.S. Open semifinal against unseeded Roberta Vinci, who pulled off one of the most stunning upsets in tennis history. Williams’ hopes for a clean sweep of Grand Slams in 2015 were over.
October 2018: Drake was a public backer of Conor McGregor in the build-up to the highly-anticipated UFC 229 against Khabib Nurmagomedov. McGregor brought Drake, curiously draped in the Ireland flag, out for the ceremonial weigh-in. McGregor lost by submission in the fourth round.
Drake with UFC fighter Conor McGregor (Brandon Magnus/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
The Drake Curse stretches across multiple sports: before the 2019 College Football Playoff National Championship, Drake posted a video of himself wearing a University of Alabama — another powerhouse — sweatshirt. Days later, Alabama suffered their worst loss in head coach Nick Saban’s 16-year tenure, losing 44-16 to the Clemson Tigers.
These are just a few examples of the Drake Curse.
Of course, one of the most spectacular examples of the Drake Curse not being a real thing came in 2019, when the Toronto Raptors won their first NBA championship. Drake, a Toronto native, has been known to frequent Raptors games at courtside seats and was outward in his praise of the Raptors during their championship run.
Drake on the bus parade celebrating the Toronto Raptors 2019 NBA championship win (Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)
But ask the internet, and the Drake Curse lives on.
Ask Canada’s players, and it’s not all smoke and mirrors, either. One Canadian men’s national team player at the 2024 Copa America, who asked politely not to be named, told me that while he is a massive fan of Drake, he does not listen to the rapper on game days. He fears the Drake Curse.
Now that we’re familiar with the curse, let’s ask another question that may or may not actually deserve an answer: Is Canada at risk of being cursed by their alignment with Drake?
A brief history lesson: As Alphonso Davies’ star climbed off the back of his 2020 Champions League win with Bayern Munich, Drake followed Davies on Instagram. This prompted a ridiculously elated video from Davies. Davies screamed in appreciation, his voice hitting levels of fandom only Drake himself can elicit.
“YOOOOOOOOOOOOOO… DRAKE, YOU FOLLOWED ME!?!?”
That Canadian connection is real. ❤️🇨🇦@Drake 🤝 @AlphonsoDavies
IG/champagnepapi pic.twitter.com/eE1wXfk44d
— 🇺🇸 FC Bayern US 🇨🇦 (@FCBayernUS) August 24, 2020
Over a year later, the connection was fortified.
Following Canada’s thrilling 4-1 victory over Panama in World Cup qualifying in Toronto in 2021, a mutual connection between Drake and the team invited Canadian players — Tajon Buchanan, Liam Millar and Davies — to meet Drake himself.
Then-Canada head coach John Herdman dropped that nugget in a press conference following the game.
“Hopefully, tonight, he’s got a chance to take that off his bucket list,” Herdman said of Davies meeting Drake.
I remember standing outside BMO Field in Toronto that night watching Millar practically shaking with eagerness as he hopped into a car to take him to meet Drake. Drake matters to this team in a profound way.
The trio travelled to hip Toronto restaurant Sotto Sotto. They met Drake, posed for photos and Davies gave Drake the jersey he wore while scoring one of Canada’s most electric goals.
When Canada walked onto the field at Ahmad bin Ali Stadium in Qatar for their first 2022 World Cup warm-ups, the team had Drake’s Started from the Bottom play over the stadium speakers. It was a fitting touch for a team that only five years earlier were ranked a paltry 120th in the world by FIFA. Canada’s national team had entered a new level of celebrity with their new association with Drake.
And then they lost all three of their games at the World Cup.
Canada can’t already be cursed by Drake, can they?
“If we can get Drake fully behind this team in any way possible…” Johnston said, shaking his head at the possibilities.
The NOCTA gear is that way. Canada will now wear Drake’s name (by association) on them. The connection between the team and the rapper is stronger than ever.
Canada captain Alphonso Davies in the new team tracksuit (Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images)
And fair play to Canada Soccer for trying to widen their reach. They have gone to great lengths to ensure Canada is actually “The People’s Team” as Marsch wants them to be: Celebrating their diversity. Seemingly endless public appearances. Aligning with young influences and still putting the team in front of traditional media sources.
“I don’t know that I know many of the songs. I know when they’re on, but I don’t know the names of the songs,” Marsch said. “My kids are going to kill me for that answer, because they love Drake.”
Still, we are seeing Canada’s team break into the mainstream in a way they did not in 2022. Their Drake-influenced tracksuits are part of that. Canada will make a limited number of the tracksuits available for purchase. A quick search on Twitter/X suggests there’s genuine interest in the tracksuits. If I were, say, 20 years younger, I could confidently ask my editor to ensure my description of the tracksuits as “fire” stays in the copy.
“I’ve never had that many messages from people asking me where they can get (the tracksuits). I’m like, ‘I’ve got one and I’m fighting off teammates to keep it,’” Johnston said. “It’s going to be a hot commodity. I’m curious how many they’re going to release to the public. They’re going to go pretty quickly.”
But as strong as the connection is, so too is the risk of falling victim to the Drake Curse.
“You tell me if there’s anyone with a bigger pull or audience in Canada than Drake,” Johnston said.
There is another way to look at it. That’s the way Canada is viewing the supposed Drake Curse.
With all due respect to UFC, the NCAA national championships and the U.S. Open, there is no greater stage in sports than the World Cup. Canada getting their first World Cup win and getting out of the group stage for the first time wearing Drake gear would not only silence the haters, but it would also be an example of a team defeating the Drake Curse with more people than ever watching.
In that sense, you have to appreciate Canada’s bravery here. They’re aware of the Drake Curse. They’re trying to change it. They want to be associated with Canadians who have made them proud.
“The U.S. is such a big community that it’s hard to hone in on what being American is. But being Canadian, there is a lot more pride on certain individuals and celebrities and moments. This is a moment to make the country proud,” Marsch said. “In the end, the way to really electrify the country is to win.”
Canada’s World Cup will represent many things to many people.
For players, the World Cup could provide the chance to elevate their careers. With a healthy mix of French and English speakers, players from different economic backgrounds and players of different races, Canada will represent the diversity the country should rightly be known for. With a first World Cup win, Canada could help catapult the sport’s domestic popularity.
And maybe, with that first win and a much-desired trip to the knockout round, they could kick the idea of the Drake Curse, once and for all.
“If the Drake Curse meant that we lost the World Cup final,” Johnston said, grinning, “I’d still be pretty happy.”
