On Thursday, Promise David stepped into Amsterdam’s famed Johan Cruyff Arena for the first time and for just his second UEFA Europa League contest. But the 23-year-old, Brampton-born David showed no nerves. He did what he has done throughout the entire season: found the back of the net. His 28th-minute penalty kick drew his Belgian club Union Saint-Gilloise level with Ajax in the knockout phase playoffs.
“The most euphoric feeling ever,” David told The Athletic. “You see the ball cross the line and then in slow motion, you can see people’s faces change. I realize that you don’t get to play football forever, so you better enjoy it. It gives people happiness, and I get to be the cause of that. You want to give back to them.”
Union would be eliminated by Ajax on aggregate in extra time, but what was clear is that David appears ready to thrive in continental competition. His rise seemingly out of nowhere has resulted in 13 goals in 27 appearances for Union across all competitions this season. This comes after he bagged 29 goals in 44 appearances for Estonian club Nõmme Kalju.
David’s combination of size (he stands 6-foot-4), power and ability not to play with his back to goal but to run at defenders have made him a lethal no. 9 in Estonia and now Belgium.
“If you asked any defender that David played against, they were just scared. They would tell me they could not manage him,” Nõmme Kalju president Kuno Tehva said.
But David – or Tobi, as he prefers to be known, owing to his middle name Oluwatobi – has also remained largely an unknown among the Canadian soccer public.
That is about to change.
Both of David’s parents were born in Nigeria, making him eligible to play internationally for Nigeria. David moved to Nigeria for four years as a child. He made two appearances for its Under-23 team in 2022 and continued to be courted by the Nigeria Football Federation throughout his recent ascent.
Yet David has decided on Canada for his future, and men’s national team coach Jesse Marsch has made the same choice.
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David will soon be named to Canada’s provisional Nations League Finals roster. The lighthearted, endearing but colossally strong striker is currently in the process of undergoing his one-time FIFA switch from Nigeria to Canada. It is expected then that David will also be named to Canada’s final roster for the crucial March window. Canada plays Mexico in the semifinals, with the winner facing either the U.S. or Panama in the final at SoFi Stadium outside Los Angeles.
“Canadian football raised me,” David said. “So I feel like I owe it back to Canada to perform for them. Playing for Nigeria was great, but it was just an opportunity. I like what (Jesse Marsch) has done with the team. You see the rapid increase. I think being a part of that history is an opportunity I should not pass up.”
His addition gives Canada the kind of depth Marsch has coveted at forward, and it is also a result of David’s remarkable self-belief.
The first time Anthony Vadori saw a 14-year-old David play for Toronto FC’s youth academy, the Vaughan Azzuri coach furrowed his brow. The same joie de vivre David shows on and off the pitch was evident as a teenager. Smiling and cracking jokes was part of his nature. So, too, was his knack for goal.
“He was this big, lanky, awkward kid,” Vadori said, before pausing to let the memories of his play come back to him, “Usually at that age, kids who are that tall can’t always control a ball. But Promise had the sweetest feet. He was special.”
“A speed demon, but no technique,” David said of his game back then, with the same charming laugh you hear often when speaking with him.
The image of David stayed with Vadori. When David was released by Toronto FC’s academy before his 15th birthday, he quickly joined the Azzuri, one of the most well-known and established youth clubs in Ontario.
The club had previously developed other Canada men’s national team players such as Alistair Johnston, Dayne St. Clair and Kamal Miller. Vadori remembers David training with some of those players and not missing a beat.
David has emerged as a goal-scoring threat at Union Saint-Gilloise in Belgium. (Photo by John Thys/BEGLA/AFP via Getty Images)
“Some players are very reserved around older guys. (David) just seemed to be at home with the challenge of playing against established players,” Vadori said.
David needed to improve his defensive awareness. But his physical tools and humility made him a coach’s dream.
“One of those kids that played with a smile on his face,” Vadori said. “We’d be in a hotel lobby meeting before a game, Promise would show up and then say, ‘Oh, I forgot my jersey upstairs,’ and we’d have to wait just for him because he couldn’t find his jersey. He was always so excited to get to the field to play.”
David grew up a Chelsea fan, adoring Didier Drogba and wanting to model parts of his game after the legendary forward. He admits to running down his street in Brampton shouting wildly after Drogba and Chelsea won the Champions League in 2012.
Playing for Vaughan gave him a platform to showcase his talents and play against strong peers. But as his size and strength leapt that of other teenagers, it was clear David needed to be playing against men.
His coaches learned that if they sacrificed different elements of their game plan – namely, what they wanted to do defensively in the middle of the park – they could rely on him sniffing out space and using his raw size to force chances. If they needed to break down a low block, David was consistently useful.
“Promise probably – no, definitely – has the highest ratio of goals per minutes that I’ve coached,” Vadori said.
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But he was still far from a complete package. Ask about his time as a youth player and the word “raw” comes up in conversation more often than not. Tantalizing as his size and touch might have been, it was clear U.S.-based schools wanted more sure things. David earned just one scholarship offer – and not even a full ride – from Appalachian State University.
“We had other guys that were more appealing to the eye, they looked more like footballers. Promise was big but wasn’t the most elegant runner. Nobody made a big play for him. I was surprised,” Vadori said.
While that would have discouraged some players, David was unbothered. He wanted to turn pro. He turned down the scholarship offer. Instead, after a summer camp run by the owner of a Croatian second-division side, David accepted an offer to move to Croatia. His bet didn’t immediately pay off, as he was forced to move clubs, subjected to racial taunts and also forced to sleep on floors. David was paying his own way, too.
“I wanted to play so bad that I was willing to put up with that s— and it made me believe in myself that much more,” David said.
Still, he never landed on any club’s first team in Croatia, and his parents implored him to return home.
“I still developed as a player, because I was playing against players who were fighting to move up to the first division. I really tasted the experience of older players but the physicality of youth players,” David said.
He continued on a whirlwind journey that should have left him chewed up and spit out. David returned to North America to join the academy of USL Championship side FC Tulsa.
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“Physically, (David’s) energy system wasn’t compatible yet to his body. He could only show his true self for 15, 20 minutes at a time,” then Tulsa head coach and current Nashville SC assistant coach Michael Nsien said.
A short contract in Malta with Valletta followed. Vadori was perplexed. He offered to help David find NCAA programs.
“’You’re going to sign in Malta? It’s not exactly a hotbed for soccer,’” Vadori remembers telling David. “But he just kept telling me, ‘It’s a foot in the door.’”
In a country currently ranked 41st in UEFA’s latest association club coefficients – behind Kazakhstan and the Faroe Islands – David did the only thing he knew how to do: score enough goals, this time propelling Valletta to the Maltese FA Trophy final.
After another stop in Malta with Sirens, David was scouted by Nõmme Kalju.
“I’m thinking about how all my friends are graduating and getting jobs, and I’m in the middle of nowhere,” David said. “And my parents wanted to pull the plug and send me back to school. I had to beg them to give me six months in Estonia to make it work.”
At the time, Nõmme Kalju were overhauling their own philosophy to become more player-development-focused.
“Things happen to him very fast. The first year he joined us, nobody paid attention because he was playing more for our Under-21 team. But then when the new season started, the first half the season he was beyond imagination. He would score almost every game,” Tehva said. “Now, the reality is hitting everyone. He improved in just one year. One year later, he was a completely different player. He just killed everyone with the power he has.”
David exceeded expectations by buying into the club’s training demands. His weight decreased while also staying physically imposing. David credits plyometric exercises for being a crucial element of his turnaround. He learned that he never truly attained traipsing through Europe without a club.
“I learned how to use my body and how to play with pace,” David said. “And the positional part of the game is what I learned in Estonia.”
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He learned to be adaptable, too. David’s positivity became his calling card.
“There are a lot of serious players who have professional mindsets and they work hard,” Tehva said. “But sometimes these players put too much pressure on themselves. (David) is different. His approach to life and football seemed at first to be a little bit unprofessional, but now that we know him, he has a personality where he’s flying through life in his own little unique, easy way and he doesn’t put too much pressure on himself. … His physical abilities, athleticism and personality make him a perfect profile for the English Premier League.”
Before any other move however, David will continue to attack games in Belgium and soon, with Canada.
“Promise finds ways to become indispensable,” Vadori said. “He’s so physically imposing that teams are just going to have to worry about him. And that’s matched with a work ethic that has taken him towards the highest levels of Europe and will keep him there.”
Canada ➡️ Croatia ➡️ U.S. ➡️ Malta ➡️ Estonia ➡️ Belgium
Promise David’s journey has been WILD 🤯 pic.twitter.com/hswRJhL7E1
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) February 20, 2025
The opportunity to play in the 2026 World Cup in Canada proved to be the deciding factor in David’s decision to play for Canada instead of Nigeria. Though the Nigerian national team was interested in adding David, their recent decline in results – Nigeria are winless in their first four 2026 World Cup qualifiers – likely also swayed David’s decision.
Even when he played for Nigeria’s Under-23 team in 2022, he told those close to him: “Playing for Canada is still the goal.”
Like so much else in his career, David made it a point of personal pride to make Canada’s team. David played alongside Estonia national team striker Alex Tamm and believed he could also compete internationally. In Nõmme Kalju’s locker room, David kept a countdown of days until the start of the 2026 World Cup to motivate him.
Canada began scouting David in earnest throughout this season. After multiple phone conversations, Marsch met David in Belgium last week. Canada’s coach explained where he sees David fitting in his system and what his opportunities could look like. He also explained where David will need to improve, including his pressing work.
“(Marsch) was very serious about where he wants to take the national team to. It inspired me to want to be part of it,” David said.
How he will work in Marsch’s system remains to be seen. David’s size and willingness to take on defenders gives Marsch a different kind of forward.
Canada manager Jesse Marsch has a new forward to work into a rotation with star Cyle Larin (9). (Photo by Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images)
“He believes wholeheartedly that he could be one of the best strikers in the world,” Nsien said. “He wholeheartedly believes that he can score goals against anyone. I’ve had a lot of former players message me about his success. Like, ‘Oh, that’s the same Promise that was with us? The strides he’s taken in the last three years have been astronomical.’”
But Marsch also requires his forwards to press intelligently off the ball. Cyle Larin, for one, has made noticeable improvement with his defensive work rate under Marsch. David knows his defensive acumen and pressing ability need improvement. But those who know him insist David should be able to adapt.
“He’s always been the kind of kid who does what the team needs him to do, whether he likes it or not,” Vadori said.
Ultimately, David adds to a forward group that outside of Larin and Jonathan David (no relation) still has plenty of question marks. And with just one season of experience in a true top European league, David himself will have questions about whether his power-first game can be sustained.
But March will provide the first opportunity for David to prove himself. His goal is to make the 2026 World Cup squad. And if his track record is any indication, he has a strong chance of proving plenty of people wrong and scoring his way into the conversation.
“Mentally, I’ve been wanting to be part of that group and training to be part of that group,” David said. “All I’ve wanted to do is play for Canada.”
(Top photo: Photo by Jasper Jacobs/Belga/AFP via Getty Images)
