Henrik Sedin’s son Valter scores first goal for Canada’s soccer team in Olympic, U20 World Cup qualifier
A Sedin scored a big goal on Saturday. Eight years after Henrik and Daniel Sedin hung up their skates with the Vancouver Canucks, another Sedin is making a name for himself, as Henrik’s son Valter scored his first competitive international goal for Canada’s men’s soccer team at the U20 level on Saturday.
The 19-year-old, who is eligible to represent Canada or Sweden at the international level, chose to play soccer instead of hockey when it came time to pick which sport to pursue at a high level.
On Saturday in Puebla, Mexico, he dribbled through three defenders before firing a shot to the near post, helping Canada to a 2–2 draw against Jamaica in the Concacaf (North and Central America) Championships, which serve as the qualifying tournament for next year’s U20 FIFA World Cup and the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
Sedin wasn’t initially listed on Canada’s roster but was a late addition due to injury, making the tournament his first competitive minutes at the U20 level and serving as a pathway to the senior national team, which recently qualified for the round of 16 at the 2026 World Cup.
The 19-year-old grew up playing soccer in Vancouver and came through the Vancouver Whitecaps Major League Soccer academy before playing a season with the club’s second team in MLS Next Pro, the minor league of MLS. In 2025, he moved over to Sweden, where he is now developing with Hammarby, one of the country’s most prominent clubs, with a passionate fanbase.
The U20 Canadian team is led by Jesse Marsch, the senior men’s national team head coach, at this summer’s tournament, who has decided to take on a more intensive role with the entire men’s program.
With the tie, Canada earned top spot in the group stage and advanced to the quarterfinals of the tournament, which will award World Cup spots to each of the four semifinalists and an Olympic spot to the top remaining team that is not the United States, given the U.S. has automatic qualification for the LA 2028 Games.
With Marsch at the helm, there stands a possibility that some of the young talents in the U20 squad could impress and earn a call to the senior men’s national team in the near future. For Sedin to commit to Canada permanently, he would have to play in a competitive game. Until then, however, he remains eligible to test the waters with both Canada and Sweden.