Former Canada player Iain Hume confirms retirement from active play

Iain Hume, a former Concacaf semifinalist who also represented Canada across three cycles of FIFA World Cup Qualifiers, has confirmed his retirement from football as an active player. Hume made 43 international “A” appearances for Canada across 14 years from 2003 to 2016, including three appearances for Canada during the fabled run at the 2007 Concacaf Gold Cup.

Hume is now coaching at Woodstock FC, having earned his UEFA B Diploma Coaching Award from the Welsh FA in 2020. He plans to enroll in the Canada Soccer Advanced Coach Education Program in the coming year.

Hume’s club career took him from Canada to England, India and Spain. He played more than 600 competitive matches and scored more than 140 goals across both his professional and international career, including 54 goals in 204 career matches in England’s Championship and another 33 goals in 125 career matches in England’s League One. He later scored 25 goals in 62 career matches in the Indian Super League, also winning the 2014 Best Player award and the 2016 Indian Super League Championship. He scored his last competitive goal on 2 March 2019 with FC Pune City in India.

Hume in fact represented Canada in three editions of the Concacaf Gold Cup, including a trip to the Semi-Finals in 2007. He was 19 years old when he made his international debut on 12 February 2003 and it was just a couple of years later when he scored his first international goal in a 1:0 away win over Luxembourg. He famously scored in the 2007 Concacaf Gold Cup Semi-Finals against USA and later was Canada’s joint leader in goalscoring during the 2011-12 cycle of FIFA World Cup Qualifiers.

At the international youth level, he represented Canada at two FIFA youth tournaments, notably reaching the Quarter-Finals at the FIFA World Youth Championship UAE 2003. He scored three goals and one assist in five matches at UAE 2003 and became one of the first two Canadians ever named to a FIFA men’s youth all-star team alongside Atiba Hutchinson. As noted by the FIFA Technical Study Group, he was as an “athletic and tricky striker, calm and compose in front of goal.”