The canada men's national soccer team has turned Mafia into part of its identity under Jesse Marsch, and the game has become a recurring way for players to connect in camp. The coach said it has helped the group bond more than any program or message he could deliver, with the team now heading toward the first men’s World Cup to come to Canada.
Kansas City Mafia Night
One of the clearest snapshots came in September 2024, late at night in a conference room at the team’s base in Kansas City. Accusations and lies filled the room for hours during a Mafia game before winger Ali Ahmed, goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois and team photographer Audrey Magny stood up and hoped a handshake could settle it.
Magny ended that round by eliminating Ahmed and Sirois. The scene showed how central the game had become inside Canada camp, where the players and staff were not just passing time but building habits and roles around a shared routine.
Jesse Marsch And The Group
Marsch said, “It’s become part of our identity, this game.” He also said, “The main [thing] I love about Mafia is they’re just so tightly connected. Almost every night they get into it and enjoy being together.”
He added, “There’s been leaders who have emerged through it,” and, “Our job is to make it feel as strong and as connected a team as possible.” One line from him cut to the point: “This game has helped facilitate that more than any other program or message I could’ve given them.”
The coach’s own family story runs through that shift. Jesse Marsch and his wife Kim took their three children out of school to criss-cross continents and visit dozens of countries, and the family used Uno to connect with people they met along the way. They called themselves the Uno Ambassadors, and Mafia entered Canada camp in the early days of the Marsch era and replaced Uno.
Jonathan David And The Travelers
Jonathan David described the older travel habit this way: “We had Uno with us. We called ourselves the Uno Ambassadors.” He said, “We’d be playing Uno with people that had no idea how to speak English, all over the world,” before adding, “So we love this stuff.”
People who have played Mafia with David described him as hard to read, a useful edge in a game built on misdirection. Over the last eight months, the Toronto Star spoke one-on-one with Marsch, David, Moïse Bombito, Liam Millar, Alistair Johnston, Joel Waterman and Audrey Magny, tracing how the game spread across camps and continents over more than two years.
That history leaves Canada with a team culture built around something simple enough to fit in a conference room and durable enough to travel across international camps. As the squad moves toward the first men’s World Cup to come to Canada, Mafia has already become one more shared reference point inside the group.
