TORONTO – Promise David has learned the hard way what it’s like playing against Canada’s youngest World Cup player, 20-year-old centre-back Luc de Fougerolles.
David is Canada’s most physically imposing player, a hulking and physical centre-forward. And de Fougerolles? His charming smile lights up rooms, but his blonde bowled haircut also resembles most teenage haircuts you’d see strolling through any suburban mall.
But whether in Canada training sessions or in Belgium’s first division where the two played against each other this season, David has met his match in de Fougerolles. A crunching tackle – not the kind young players usually throw – is never far away with de Fougerolles.
“Whenever I’m playing against (de Fougerolles), I’m always careful about my well-being,” David said Tuesday. “Because I don’t think Luc gives a f**k about anybody’s Achilles or bones or anything.”
David knows what those around the Canada squad have learned: Luc de Fougerolles does not play like a 20-year-old. Raised in Fulham’s academy, he was a virtual unknown in Canadian soccer less than three years ago. There was a time in 2025 when De Fougerolles had played more games for Canada than in senior club soccer. His last season on loan with Dender in Belgium was his first full professional season.
This is not the type of player an international head coach generally turns the keys over to in a World Cup opener.
Despite being the youngest player on Canada’s World Cup team, a change in plans will likely see Jesse Marsch and the hopes of an entire country rely on de Fougerolles in a surprise way: on Friday, in the biggest game in Canadian soccer history.
De Fougerolles is trending towards starting at centre-back for Canada’s World Cup opener against Bosnia and Herzegovina on June 12.
20-year-old De Fougerolles could start in Canada’s opening game against Bosnia and Herzegovina (Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images)
Moise Bombito, Canada’s best centre-back, has not recovered from a broken leg the way Canada had hoped. In training on Tuesday, Bombito once again did not move with the power he has shown at his best. He struggled to take tight turns in warm-up sprinting activities. Bombito is doing everything to force the coaching staff’s hand. He wants to play.
But closing time at the bar is near. A decision on Canada’s lineup needs to be made, if it hasn’t already been. De Fougerolles came in for Bombito as the only change in Marsch’s starting lineup over Canada’s two final World Cup tune-up games.
So is gambling on his youngest player as a starting centre-back the right move for Marsch?
Often at the World Cup, a team’s youngest player is utilized sparingly off the bench or as an injury replacement. At the 2022 World Cup, Canada’s youngest player was Ismael Kone, then 20. Kone appeared only as a substitute in the midfield.
Starting at centre-back, one of the most important positions on the pitch, for a team whose defensive sturdiness is part of its DNA? That’s different. If Canada must play knockout round games in the United States, De Fougerolles would not legally be allowed to celebrate with a post-game adult beverage.
To start at centre-back beside mainstay Derek Cornelius, Marsch could go with MLS veteran Joel Waterman, who was on the 2022 World Cup squad. Or he could turn to the athletic and composed Alfie Jones. An ankle injury has kept Jones out of game action since December, but the Middlesbrough man has been training with the team in full.
Marsch likely won’t go with those options. Instead: he could gamble on a player with only one full year of professional experience under his belt, to start his World Cup opener. Because to Marsch, it won’t feel like much of a gamble at all.
“Luc is a really smart player,” Marsch said. “And for a young guy, he plays experienced. He’ll be ready when called upon.”
A season on loan at FCV Dender EH has acted as a soccer education for De Fougerolles (AFP via Getty Images)
De Fougerolles has established himself as someone who does not play like a 20-year-old. When he was just 18, de Fougerolles was the first name Marsch put on his whiteboard when determining Canada’s starting lineup in the third-place game against Uruguay in the 2024 Copa America. At that time, Marsch wanted to gamble on de Fougerolles.
“After (Copa America), we felt like this was a guy that we wanted to invest in more and then certainly we did that in Gold Cup,” Marsch said.
Everything Marsch believes in when it comes to the World Cup is personified in De Fougerolles. Marsch thinks the World Cup is a young man’s tournament. He values fearlessness and risk-tasking in decision-making. He demands athleticism and emotional maturity. De Fougerolles can, and will, sprint for days. And de Fougerolles’ intelligence helps him out of jams in his own box. Against Ireland in that friendly, de Fougerolles turned heads as he burst through the opposition’s midfield.
“(De Fougerolles) just continues to impress me,” Liam Millar, one of Canada’s presumed starters, said. “I was at Fulham when I was a kid and he’s obviously there now. I know what it’s like coming through there. I think he’s honestly done exceptional because it can be quite hard coming through. Every game he plays in he’s just getting better and better.”
De Fougerolles won’t feel like the weight of the world is on him come Friday. Because Marsch himself won’t feel like he’s going out of his comfort zone in playing de Fougerolles. De Fougerolles’ drive is just that relentless. That’s what Marsch wants.
“I can never say I’m going to save myself,” de Fougerolles told The Athletic in a recent interview. “If I’m playing, I’m 100% playing, regardless of what’s coming up next.”
Now, we need to remember: Marsch has previously thrown De Fougerolles to the wolves before. There were some errors during his start against Uruguay, but de Fougerolles did not look like a fish out of water.
Those errors continued — albeit never in a completely detrimental manner. Against Australia in an October friendly, De Fougerolles allowed a soft cross to dribble past him. Instead of clearing the ball, nearby defender Niko Sigur was forced into an error before the ball ended up in Canada’s goal.
After starting Canada’s Gold Cup quarterfinal in 2025, De Fougerolles was named to take Canada’s seventh penalty. It was their last as de Fougerolles hit his penalty against the bar. De Fougerolles pulled his white shirt over his head in embarrassment. For a moment, he looked like the 19-year-old he was.
But he’s kept coming back for more. His game and confidence have not wavered.
“I like responsibility,” de Fougerolles said. “A few years ago, I would have wondered if I was ready. Now, I’ve had a year of first team football. I feel ready for anything.”
De Fougerolles won’t cower in the moment. He pressed forward with the ball through the midfield against Ireland with composure. De Fougerolles is not the type to overthink his decisions. Though he only has one full year of first-team soccer under his belt, you could not convince onlookers that de Fougerolles would shirk from the moment.
Picking De Fougerolles would be a roll of the dice by Canada manager Jesse Marsch (Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
In a World Cup game on home soil, Marsch and Canada could depend on a player who midfield Nathan Saliba describes as “the little brother on the team.”
“Someone you can joke around with, but it’s always good vibes,” Saliba said of De Fougerolles.
His start is no laughing matter. It can’t be. Should De Fougerolles start, it will be Marsch’s first roll of his World Cup-branded dice. Every other spot in Marsch’s starting XI is essentially spoken for.
De Fougerolles should consider himself a peer to his fellow starters. He built a reputation shortly after earning his first Canada cap. In the punishing Kansas City heat during Copa America in 2024, de Fougerolles trained with typical ceaseless intensity. After spending most of his life in England, he just wasn’t used to that Kansas City sun. De Fougerolles vomited in the middle of a training session because he refused to take his foot off the gas.
“I was just trying to impress wherever I went,” de Fougerolles said, shrugging.
Teammates didn’t shrug. That earned their admiration. On Friday, Canada veterans won’t look at him the way they might with 20-year-olds.
“This past year, you’re like, ‘Holy s**t, this kid is 20?’” Richie Laryea said of de Fougerolles.
No one around Canada is second-guessing de Fougerolles any longer. They won’t have any more chances to, come Friday when the lights on this team have never been brighter.
“(De Fougerolles) is going to achieve whatever it is he wants to achieve,” Laryea said. “Because he has all the tools, especially that young, to play at the highest levels.”