what sports are played in canada?
Canada national baseball team Canada national rugby union team Canada women's national volleyball team Canada men's national soccer team Canadian national bandy team Canada national badminton team Canada men's national volleyball team Canadian women's cricket team A1 Team Canada Northwind
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 The roots of organized sports in Canada date back to the 1770s . Canada 's official national sports are ice hockey and lacrosse . Seven of Canada 's eight largest metropolitan areas – Toronto , Montreal , Vancouver , Ottawa , Calgary , Edmonton and Winnipeg – have franchises in the National Hockey League ( NHL ) while Quebec City had the Quebec Nordiques until they relocated to Colorado in 1995 . Canada does have one Major League Baseball team , the Toronto Blue Jays , one professional basketball team , the Toronto Raptors , three Major League Soccer teams and four National Lacrosse League teams . Canada has participated in almost every Olympic Games since its Olympic debut in 1900 , and has hosted several high @-@ profile international sporting events , including the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal , the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary , the 1994 Basketball World Championship , the 2007 FIFA U @-@ 20 World Cup , the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler , British Columbia and the 2015 FIFA Women 's World Cup . Other popular spectator sports in Canada include curling and Canadian football ; the latter is played professionally in the Canadian Football League ( CFL ) . Golf , tennis , baseball , skiing , cricket , volleyball , rugby union , Australian Rules Football , soccer and basketball are widely played at youth and amateur levels , but professional leagues and franchises are not widespread . 

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 The most popular sport is ice hockey . The professional hockey team , the Montreal Canadiens , is one of the Original Six teams of the National Hockey League ( NHL ) , and has won an NHL @-@ record 24 Stanley Cup championships . The Canadiens ' most recent Stanley Cup victory came in 1993 . They have major rivalries with the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins both of which are also Original Six hockey teams . The Canadiens have played at the Bell Centre since 1996 . Prior to that they played at the Montreal Forum . 

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 The Canadian Football League ( CFL ) , the sole major professional sports league in the United States and Canada to feature only teams from Canada , has made efforts to gain further audience in the United States , most directly through expansion into the country from 1993 to 1995 . The CFL plays Canadian football , which is somewhat different from the American football usual in the United States . 

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 Internationally , Canada had long been protesting the Soviet Union 's use of " professional amateurs " at the World Championships and the Olympic Games , which were amateur events . Canada withdrew from international competition in 1969 and boycotted the 1972 Olympic hockey tournament . As an alternative , NHL Players ' Association executive director Alan Eagleson negotiated a deal with Soviet authorities to hold an eight @-@ game series between the Soviet national team and Canada 's top professionals . 

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 Canada has had many political debates between the French speakers and English speakers , particularly in the province of Quebec . Canada holds both French and English as official languages . The politics in Quebec are largely defined by nationalism as French Québécois wish to gain independence from Canada as a whole , based on ethnic and linguistic boundaries . The main separatist party , Parti Québécois , attempted to gain sovereignty twice ( once in 1980 and again in 1995 ) and failed by a narrow margin of 1 @.@ 2 % in 1995 . Since then , in order to remain united , Canada granted Quebec statut particulier , recognizing Quebec as a nation within the united nation of Canada . Canada is often described as a cultural mosaic . 
