Sporting Kansas City midfielder Zorhan Bassong will return to the Canada Men’s National Team this week as Canada Soccer announced today a 20-player roster for a training camp from Jan. 8-18 in Irvine, Calif. The camp will feature an international friendly against Guatemala at 9 p.m. CT on Jan. 17 at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles in a rematch of the 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup quarterfinals.
Bassong is coming off a 2025 campaign in which the 26-year-old received call-ups for all six men’s national team camps -- including the Concacaf Nations League Finals in March and the Concacaf Gold Cup in June – as head coach Jesse Marsch continues to prepare Canada for FIFA World Cup 26. Ranked No. 27 in the FIFA rankings, Canada will look to advance from Group B – featuring Qatar, Switzerland and a to-be-determined European playoff winner -- at this summer’s World Cup.
After making his first two senior international appearances in January 2020 at age 20, Bassong earned five caps for Canada in 2025 with starts against Ukraine (4-2 win), and Curacao (1-1 tie) in June along with substitute appearances against Honduras (6-0 win) in June, Romania (3-0 win) in September and Colombia (0-0 tie) in October.
Bassong enters his third season with Sporting in 2026 after starting in 19 of 26 appearances across all competitions last year. He scored his first professional goal at FC Cincinnati on April 26 and recorded assists in a 3-3 home draw against New England on May 24 and a 3-1 road win at Houston on May 31. Bassong donned the captain’s armband for the first time on Aug. 16 at Orlando City SC and added his third assist of the year on Aug. 24 at Seattle.
Capable of playing as a central midfielder or a left back, Bassong played 25 competitive matches in his debut season for Sporting in 2024. He logged his first 17 appearances at left back before transitioning to a central midfield role and helping Kansas City reach the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final.
Born in Toronto and raised in Montreal, Bassong moved to Belgium in 2013 to join the Mouscron academy. 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) and points (65).
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.
