Toronto FC looks set to head into the 2025 season with a new head coach, but little else has changed. The team who finished in 11th place last term have done little to strengthen their team and much of their hopes appear to rest on the management change.
As expected, Inter Miami and their host of stars are the runaway favourite for the Eastern Conference while Toronto FC and Chicago Fire are the least fancied by bookmakers, both priced at around 66/1.
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New Manager
In August 2023, John Herdman was announced as the new Toronto FC head coach after agreeing to take over after his spell in charge of the national team.
His career differed from many in the game, starting out coaching in the youth Academy of Sunderland. The Englishman never played professionally but took his first managerial role as head coach of New Zealand’s women’s team.
After 5 years in charge of New Zealand, he took over the Canadian women’s national team in 2011 where he led the team to two back-to-back bronze medals in the Olympics.
He took over the men’s national team in 2018 and helped to guide the team from 72nd in the world rankings to 40th, Canada’s best-ever place. His frustration at poor funding and resources led to him leaving to take over at Toronto in 2023.
In just over a year at Toronto, he led the team to 16 victories from 44 games, a 36.36% win average. Unfortunately, 22 losses and 6 draws led him to resign from his position in November 2024.
Former US international and Toronto FC assistant manager Robin Fraser was named the new head coach on January 10th following 4 years with the Colorado Rapids.
His 35.66% win average with the Rapids is slightly below Herdman’s achievements with Toronto last season, but this is taken from 129 games in charge.
Fraser typically employs possession-based tactics but it will be interesting to see how he works with the current crop of Toronto stars.
Largely Unchanged Roster
The one new face in the door this season is 22-year-old winger Theo Corbeanu who joins on a one-year loan deal from Granada. Having started his career with the Reds youth team before moving to England with Premiership side Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2021.
He made one Premier League appearance for the club but was more active during loan spells at Sheffield Wednesday, Milton Keynes Dons, Blackpool, Arminia Bielefeld, and Grasshoppers, before moving to La Liga with Granada in 2024.
Two players have left the club before the season starts, with centre forward Prince Osei Owusu joining CF Montreal and Thiago Andrade who moves to Japanese J1 side Cerezo Osaka.
Fraser will be hoping he can get the best out of Italian duo Federico Bernardeschi and Lorenzo Insigne who have the ability to cause problems for any defence in the league.
The team also boasts English Premier League experience in Matty Longstaff, while club captain and Canada international Jonathan Osorio will continue to play a key role at the club he has been at since 2013.
A play-off place could be out of reach for an underperforming squad this season, but the new coach will have new ideas and the four seasons out of the playoffs for the club will be in the back of his mind.
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