The Report from Dublin

After an off-season which saw Team Canada Medical Football expand its reach by conducting a full scale selection camp - enticing over 90 physicians to Toronto to show their skills on the pitch - and a Calgary training camp that brought those selected to the team together to further prepare, Team Canada reaped the rewards by finishing with their best ever result at the World Medical Football Championships in Ireland.

 

The open-age Morrell group brought 25 Canadian doctors spanning multiple specialties from all across the country to the University College of Dublin where they were drawn into Group B to compete against physicians from South Korea, Australia and Sweden. With two impressive wins against South Korea and Sweden and a hard-fought loss against Australia, only goal-differential separated the Canadian squad from finishing in the top-8 portion of the tournament.With determination and composure, the Canadians progressed to the finals of the middle 8 bracket after nail-biting victories over Colombia and Hungary in penalty shoot-outs. In the final game, a fiercely contested match versus Poland, despite an enterprising offensive assault the Canadians were unable to find a crack in the stout Polish defensive structure, ultimately leaving the younger Canadian lads in an exceptional 10th place. The finish marked the highest placement for the red and white since joining the annual tournament in 2016.It was an honour to play with Team Canada’s Over-45 team at the 2025 edition of the World Medical Football Championship.

 

Doctors from over 20 countries congregated in Dublin, Ireland to participate in this annual event. There was a medical conference with a focus on sports medicine, and a concurrent football tournament for conference attendees. This was the fifth time Canada has entered a team in the Over-45 division, and it was a very successful tournament for us. We were drawn in to a very difficult group initially, with games against Brazil, Ukraine and the United States. Brazil and Ukraine have won the majority of these tournaments since 2018, so we faced a stiff challenge at the start. Although we lost to Brazil and Ukraine (who finished first and third place respectively), they were very competitive and spirited games and were a good way to start the tournament. We managed to finish third in our group, and were playing in the middle bracket during the ranking phase of the tournament. We were quite strong in this next phase, with wins against South Korea and Costa Rica, and managed to finish 10th place (out of 24 teams).

 

The games were fun and competitive, and we finished with a record of three wins and three losses. It was a successful outcome and we earned the respect of the other participants in the tournament. During the event, we were able to improve our medical knowledge and network with like-minded doctors from around the world. One of the most incredible aspects of this event is the ability to make friends with other medical professionals from around the world. We will always be grateful for the relationships that we have formed through participation in this event. We were also fortunate to participate in a charity event with a sizeable donation to a local organization in Dublin (Sports Against Racism Ireland). This is an important part of our participation in these football tournaments, as a way of demonstrating thanks to the hosts for welcoming us to their city.

 

This was an incredible experience where we could come together to participate in a sport we love, improve our medical knowledge, experience the incredible city of Dublin, and make friends from many different countries. We wanted to extend our thanks to the organizers from Ireland who helped make this event happen. We also wanted to thank our sponsors from Scribeberry and MD Financial Management for their generous support and helping to make this possible for us.