No honeymoon period for new Canada Soccer boss

Bontis, elected Soccer Canada president on Friday, takes over from the outgoing Steven Reed, who had served the remaining three years of Victor Montagliani’s four-year term after the latter became top man at regional governing body CONCACAF.

“The elephant in the room is the recovery from COVID, the lockdown, the pandemic this is critically important,” he told reporters during an introductory news conference on Tuesday.

“Pre-COVID the organisation was extremely healthy, soccer across Canada was extremely healthy, then all of a sudden it hit last March and parents aren’t registering their kids ".

The COVID-19 pandemic and not money will be the determining factor when Canada’s national teams get back on the field.

The men’s team have not played since January but are hopeful of staging a camp in January, which would represent the last opportunity to come together before 2022 Qatar World Cup qualifying begins in March.