Sporting Kansas City midfielder Zorhan Bassong has been selected to the Canada Men’s National Team for the 2025 Canadian Shield, an international tournament taking place at BMO Field in Toronto featuring Ukraine, Ivory Coast, New Zealand and hosts Canada.
Bassong and the Reds will face Ukraine on June 7 at 2:30 p.m. CT and Ivory Coast on June 10 at 7:30 p.m. CT. Both matches are scheduled during FIFA’s international window and will serve as tune-ups ahead of the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup, which will run from June 14 to July 6 across Canada and the United States. Bassong and Sporting forward Stephen Afrifa have been named to Canada’s preliminary 60-man roster for the Gold Cup, with the final squad to be announced by June 4.
Bassong, a 26-year-old midfielder who can also play at left back, will join Canada’s squad for the second time this year. He was previously named to head coach Jesse Marsch’s roster for the 2025 Concacaf Nations League Finals in March at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. He has two career caps for Canada’s senior national team, both of which came in January 2020. In March 2021, Bassong also played three matches for the Canada U-23s at the 2020 Concacaf Men’s Olympic Qualifying Championship in Mexico.
The Canadian Shield will see all four participating teams play two matches each, awarding three points for a regulation win, two points for a shootout win and one point for a shootout loss. Matches tied after 90 minutes will go straight to penalty kicks. The team with the most points after the conclusion of the tournament will be crowned champion.
Now in his second year with Sporting, Bassong has made 12 appearances and earned six starts this season across all competitions. He scored his first professional goal in Kansas City’s 2-1 loss at FC Cincinnati on April 26 and most recently played the full 90 minutes in consecutive road results against St. Louis City SC on May 14 and San Diego FC on May 17.
Bassong played 25 competitive matches in his debut season for Sporting in 2024, logging his first 17 appearances at left back before transitioning to a central midfield role last August and helping Kansas City reach the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final last September.
Born in Toronto and raised in Montreal, Bassong moved to Belgium in 2013 to join the Mouscron academy, where fellow Sporting left back Logan Ndenbe also competed as a youth player. Bassong furthered his development in the heralded academy systems at Belgian side Anderlecht and French club Lille, beginning his professional career at the latter in 2016.
In three years with Lille B from 2016-2019, Bassong logged 31 appearances and over 2,100 minutes. He joined Belgian outfit Cercle Brugge in January 2019 and left the club in July 2020.
Bassong enjoyed a two-year MLS stint with CF Montreal that began in early 2021. He played 26 regular season matches in his debut MLS campaign and added an assist in Montreal’s run to the 2021 Canadian Championship title, appearing in every match of the tournament. Bassong played 14 more matches in all competitions the following year—including two in the 2022 Concacaf Champions League and two in the Canadian Championship—as he helped Montreal set a club record for regular season wins (20), points (65) and goal differential (+13).
Following his time with Montreal, Bassong spent 2023 with two Romanian clubs, Arges Pitesti (10 matches) and Farul Constanta (two matches). He signed for Sporting on Dec. 12, 2023.
Sporting Kansas City returns to Children's Mercy Park on Saturday to host the New England Revolution at 7:30 p.m. CT. Tickets for the cross-conference clash are available on SeatGeek and can be purchased at a discounted rate as part of the Rally Pack or East Coast Pack. The game will be available to watch with an Apple TV+ or MLS Season Pass subscription in addition to local radio coverage on 810 AM and 103.7 FM.
