Written by:Charlie O'Connor-Clarke
As the Canadian Premier League marks one year until the 2026 World Cup on home soil, we at CanPL.ca are celebrating by telling the stories of CPLers who are excited to welcome the world.

One of the strengths of York United's defensive group in 2025 is how many different kinds of defenders they have. There's the physically imposing Oswaldo León; there's the ever-reliable leader Elijah Adekugbe, a natural midfielder currently excelling in the backline; and of course, there's Frank Sturing, a pinpoint ball distributor who helps progress his side up the field.

For Sturing, a Dutch-born Canadian international, that comfort with the ball at his feet has always been fundamental to the way he likes to play.

"I think especially in the Netherlands, anything I did, it's important to be good with the ball," he said in a recent interview. "Looking back, it was always, be good with the ball first; some guys, like Oswaldo, maybe focus a little bit more on their defence. I had a great academy, we trained a lot with the ball just to see spaces. I think when I look back to my academy, every player in every position could play with the ball."

Ironically, Sturing says his favourite player growing up was Jaap Stam — a Dutch legend, undoubtedly, but not exactly a ball-playing defender.

Sturing's footballing journey began in his hometown of Nijmegen, where he played for a local youth club before joining the academy of Eredivisie side NEC. He worked his way up to their first team, and played pro football in his native country for several years before moving to Austria and, finally in 2024, Canada.

"It's always been in my mind to one day play in Canada and live in Canada," he said of his move to York United last year. "I've always kept an eye on the CPL as it started. I always tried to push for things in Europe, and I was in good environments and good clubs so I was focused on that, but at some point I saw the CPL growing and growing, and I just felt like I wanted to be part of the growth of the CPL."

Though born and raised in Nijmegen, Sturing's father is Canadian, which makes him eligible for citizenship. Around 2019, after being overlooked several times by the Dutch youth national teams, Sturing took it upon himself to contact Canada.

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"I knew that no one knew I was Canadian in the Netherlands, so I reached out to Canada Soccer," he recalled. "As soon as they heard that I was able to play for Canada they were so excited for me to join. Then we just started the process of me actually getting my Canadian passport."

Once that came in, Sturing was quickly brought into the fold. Then-Canada head coach John Herdman called him up in January 2021 for a training camp that featured a mixture of senior and U-23 players, knowing that key qualifiers for both the 2022 World Cup and the Tokyo Olympics loomed later that year.

Sturing, 23 years old at the time, was originally slated to join the Canada U-23s for their Olympic qualifiers in March 2021, where he would've played with current CPLers like Ballou Tabla, Callum Montgomery and Aidan Daniels.

Before he could join the U-23s in Guadalajara, however, Sturing got a different call from Herdman: he was to join the senior national team for the start of World Cup Qualifying.

So, Sturing headed to join the CanMNT in Florida, and observed from the bench as they opened their qualifying campaign against Bermuda. Four days later, Herdman handed him his debut and named him in the starting XI against the Cayman Islands.

It took just five minutes for Sturing to introduce himself to Canadian fans; after the Caymans failed to clear a corner kick after Sam Piette and Jonathan Osorio couldn't quite direct it into the net, the ball landed for Sturing in the box, and he wrapped his foot around it to score his first international goal. That was the first tally in what would be a record-breaking 11-0 triumph for Canada, and an early positive moment on their lengthy journey to qualify for Qatar.

Sturing played again for Canada in the next WCQ window, and joined them for that summer's Gold Cup, but he hasn't been called up since. Still, he cherishes that first moment with the national team, and he'll always be a part of the story of Canada's incredible run to the World Cup.

Of course, Sturing knows that Jesse Marsch and the current men's national team staff still have their eye on the CPL; now that he's back to full fitness and playing regularly for York, one of his personal goals is to get back on the CanMNT radar.

"I think for every player, that's the highest possible thing you can reach," he said. "I've been there, I really enjoyed by time, and I really want to be back with that team and to reach big things."

Back in the CPL, though, Sturing is carrying on the legacy of talented ball-playing centre-backs of Dutch origin. If all goes well, he's hoping to lead York United to similar success as Daniel Krutzen had with Forge and Daan Klomp had with Cavalry.