Canada forward Jonathan David walks to the stretching area during practice at the World Cup in Doha, Qatar, Friday, Nov. 25, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

By The Canadian Press

Ottawa-raised soccer star Jonathan David heading to second World Cup

Jun 10, 2026 | 4:14 AM

OTTAWA — Jonathan David’s high school teacher doesn’t remember him ever taking a lunch break.

That’s because the budding soccer star never wanted to leave the training dome.

“If it wouldn’t have been for us kicking him out of the dome, I’m not sure he would have went to his classes,” said Joé Fournier, program director and head coach of the Louis Riel Soccer Academy. “He would take as much time as possible to play soccer.”

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., to Haitian parents, David spent his early years in Haiti before his family moved to Ottawa when he was six years old. That’s where he began his path to becoming Canada’s all-time men’s leading scorer on the cusp of playing in his second World Cup.

David was 10 years old when he started playing soccer for the Gloucester Dragons Soccer Club and 11 when he joined the Ottawa Gloucester SC Hornets. He has also played for the Ottawa Internationals Soccer Club, representing Canada at the under-17 level.

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When his U15 Hornets beat the Ottawa South United Force for the first time, David told local outlet Ottawa Sports Pages that there was a “big crowd.”

“It’s intense, this rivalry,” he said at the time. “We know you got to come in hard, play physical and we did what we had to do to get the win.

In high school, he was a student in Louis Riel’s sports study program, where athletes can take part in high-level training during school hours as part of an adapted gym class. Vanessa Gilles, an Olympic champion with Canada’s women’s soccer team, attended the same school.

Fournier said David’s ultimate goal was always to play soccer in Europe.

“Everything he did was to go to Europe,” he said.

A trial with KAA Gent in Belgium came in 2017 after a scout saw him on video. He went to Belgium twice that year, spending time with the second team before earning a full-time invitation. David had to wait until he turned 18 in January 2018, before he could sign a pro contract.

In August 2020, David made the move to France’s Lille for a reported transfer fee of 30 million euros. Last summer, he signed a five-year contract with storied Italian club Juventus.

Now, David is set to represent his country again when co-host Canada kicks off its World Cup on Friday against Bosnia-Herzegovina in Toronto.

Canada’s roster features 13 players who represented the country at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, including David.

Fournier said he noticed from David’s first tryout from the high school program that he was a “special player.”

“Just the way he moved, the way was using the space, the way he was positioning himself, his body profile, you could tell that he understood the game,” said Fournier. “It was just his soccer IQ, you could tell right away that he understood the game and wanted to learn.”

Fournier said David was a very quiet and reserved student who was unleashed on the soccer pitch.

“The memory that I have of him when he wasn’t on the field was that his friends would be goofing around and he would just be in the background laughing quietly,” he said. “He was shy, but when he got on the field, that’s where he was having fun.

“When he was on the field, he was a beast.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 10, 2026.

—With files from Gemma Karstens-Smith

Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press

by The Canadian Press