In the summer of 2007, Canada hosted one of the largest soccer tournaments in the world, the FIFA Men's U20 World Cup. It was the first time Canada hosted a major soccer competition. Many argue that after hosting this event, soccer began to explode in Canada. The general secretary of the CSA is also of the same opinion; in an interview he says that Montopoli recognizes 2007 (when Canada hosted the FIFA U-20 World Cup) as an important year for sports in this country, calling it “the starting point.” We set FIFA attendance records with 1.2 million people coming through the gates, which I think surprised a lot of people in our country (APA SOURCE). Part of the success they achieved after hosting the World Cup was that they also brought professional soccer to Canada through the MLS and there have been multiple expansions into Canada. Additionally, our success in hosting the Men's U20 World Cup has allowed us to bid for larger tournaments. Canada recently won the bid to host the 2015 Women's World Cup and at the same time hosted the U20 Women's World Cup in 2014 (SOURCE). These two major events will definitely attract many Canadians to come and watch and attend the games. There will also be greater media coverage of the matches. Hosting these major international events really allows football to grow from the grassroots level through increased media coverage and also more parents bringing their children to football matches. Appendix A shows evidence that Montopoli's statement is accurate as there is an increase in soccer registrations across the country following the 2007 World Cup. MLS Expansion As previously mentioned, in 2007 soccer began to explode in Canada and that same year Toronto was also the first place to have a team in the MLS. Many were uncertain about... middle of paper......about Galaxy and MLS on every continent on the planet. We have tried to measure media coverage and put a dollar value on it, but that is simply impossible due to the global appeal that David has. His kind of impact is priceless and immeasurable (SOURCE). TFC followed a similar approach by purchasing 3 players during the transfer period at a cost of $100 million. They acquired Jermaine Defoe from Tottenham Hotspurs who played in the EPL and also an England national team player (SOURCE). These star players have a huge impact on the league and also on the team, as more and more fans want to attend the games. MLS still has a long way to go before players in Europe and around the world become a first-choice destination, but the league is slowly growing and we can thank players like Beckham and Henry for adding the media coverage it desperately needed.