The September international window began this week, and a number of Canadian Premier League players have headed across the world to don their national colours.
A total of 13 players are en route to either a senior or youth national team camp, with six different countries represented, including Canada.
Several CPL stars are headed to compete in FIFA World Cup Qualifying, perhaps hoping to play on the world's biggest stage in 2026 in Canada, the United States or Mexico. Another handful of players will represent their country's youth sides, in some cases gearing up for the upcoming FIFA U-17 World Cup in November.
Here are all the CPLers headed to play international football this week, sorted by country.
Canada
U-17 — Sergei Kozlovskiy (Atlético Ottawa), Shola Jimoh (York United) — U-17
U-18 — Zayne Bruno (Forge FC), Emmanuel Marmolejo (Forge FC), Emrick Fotsing (Vancouver FC), TJ Tahid (Vancouver FC)
Six young CPLers will wear the red and white of Canada this week at a pair of camps in Europe.
Ottawa's Kozlovskiy and York's Jimoh are in Spain, where they'll take part in friendlies against Morocco (Sept. 4), Uzbekistan (Sept. 6) and England (Sept. 9). These matches will serve as important preparation for the Canadian squad ahead of the upcoming U-17 World Cup, which will take place in Qatar starting Nov. 3. Canada will be in Group K for that 48-team tournament, alongside France, Chile and Uganda.
Meanwhile, Vancouver FC pair Fotsing and Tahid as well as Forge's Zayne Bruno and Emanuel Marmolejo (who is part of the club's system on a development contract) have been called into the Canada U-18 camp in Finland. They'll play Finland on Sept. 5 and Switzerland on Sept. 7, as the program begins preparations for a 2027 U-20 World Cup qualifying campaign, which will begin next year.
Trinidad & Tobago
Andre Rampersad (Halifax Wanderers), Ryan Telfer (Halifax Wanderers), Steffen Yeates (York United)
All three players will be headed to Port of Spain to represent the Trinidadian national team, as they begin the third round of Concacaf's World Cup Qualifying gauntlet.
They'll take on Curaçao at home on Friday, Sept. 5, before playing Jamaica on Tuesday, Sept. 9 in Kingston. These crucial matches will set the tone for Trinidad's qualification campaign.
In the four-team Group B (featuring the above three sides and Bermuda), the first-place finisher will qualify directly for the World Cup, while the two best second-place teams from the three Concacaf groups will advance to an inter-confederation play-off. It's a tricky group for the Trinidadian side, but after finishing second in their five-team group from the last round they have a chance.
All three players have significant experience representing the Soca Warriors, Telfer leading the way with 32 caps and 10 goals for his country. Rampersad has made 24 appearances, while Yeates has nine.
Lebanon
Gabriel Bitar (York United)
The York midfielder is headed to Surabaya, Indonesia where he and the Lebanese national team will play Indonesia in a friendly on Sept. 8. It'll be an important test for the squad, as they gear up to continue their 2027 AFC Asian Cup qualification campaign in October, when they'll play Bhutan twice.
Bitar, who grew up in Ottawa but represents his parents' home country of Lebanon, has nine caps for the senior national team, including two at the 2023 AFC Asian Cup in Qatar.
Somalia
Ali Musse (Cavalry FC)
Cavalry star Musse is headed back on the international stage to join the Somalian national team for CAF's World Cup Qualifying.
Somalia will play Guinea on Sept. 5 and Uganda on Sept. 8, with both matches played in the Ugandan capital Kampala.
After six matches played, Somalia have just one point, which means they're unable to top Group G and qualify directly for the World Cup, however they remain mathematically alive in the race for second place, which would send them to the second round of qualifying. Their group includes leaders Algeria, as well as Mozambique and Botswana.
Musse has three caps for Somalia, including two others in this World Cup Qualifying cycle.
Moldova
Mihail Gherasimencov (Cavalry FC) — U-21
The young Cavalry FC full-back has been called up to Moldova's U-21 side to take part in their 2027 UEFA European U-21 Championship qualifiers. They continue their Group D campaign with home games against the Republic of Ireland (Sept. 4) and Slovakia (Sept. 9) in Nisporeni.
Moldova are in a six-team group with the above two foes, as well as England, Kazakhstan and Andorra. The first-placed side will qualify directly to the 2027 tournament in Albania and Serbia, while the second-placed team advances to the play-offs.
Gherasimencov and Moldova have already played one match in qualifying, beating Andorra 3-0 back in June.
El Salvador
Anthony Umanzor (York United) — U-17
The 17-year-old has been training with York's first team much of this year on a development contract, and he made one CPL appearance in June against Cavalry FC.
Umanzor, born in Toronto, has been called up to the El Salvador U-17 squad for a trio of friendlies in Spain against Real Betis U-23s, Atlético Madrid Reserves and Olympique de Marseille U-23s.
