Toronto FC

Major League Soccer awarded an expansion franchise to Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment in 2005, for a reported $10 million expansion fee, making it MLS's first team based outside the United States. The club name, Toronto FC, was unveiled in May 2006, following a public naming consultation that favoured a simple, direct civic identity over a more "branded" mascot-style name.

A stadium built for it

Toronto FC formally launched as an MLS expansion side for the 2007 season, playing out of the newly built BMO Field at Exhibition Place, a stadium constructed specifically to give the club a soccer-first home. The club's first home win came on May 12, 2007, when Danny Dichio scored the franchise's first-ever goal in a 3–1 victory over the Chicago Fire — a moment still commemorated by fans as one of the club's defining early images.

Building a Canadian soccer identity

The expansion team struggled on the field in its debut campaign, but sellout crowds and a vocal supporters' culture immediately distinguished Toronto FC's atmosphere from much of the rest of the league. The club went on to win the Canadian Championship multiple times and became MLS Cup champion in 2017, the first Canadian club to do so — achievements resting on the foundation laid in 2007, when the club's arrival gave Canada standing as an MLS market.

Sources

• The Canadian Encyclopedia — Toronto FC

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