The summer of 2006 saw the eyes of the world, including those of Canadians, transfixed on Germany as 32 teams from across the globe competed for the World Cup of football--but due to the lack of capacity to support the development of world class Canadian players and teams, Canada perennially cannot mount a team able to qualify for World Cup competition. The authors' work comparing policy and practice in citizenship education in Canada with that in several international jurisdictions (Australia, England, the European Community, and the U.S.) reveals an analogous situation. While Canada has joined the rest of the world in proclaiming the fostering of democratic citizenship as a key--in fact, "the" key--goal for education, it has failed to keep pace in terms of building the capacity to meet this objective. The authors see a clear connection between the World Cup and the findings outlined in this article. In the field of citizenship education Canadian teachers and schools operate under very similar mandates to their counterparts in other jurisdictions. Other nations that face similar challenges to those they find in Canada have moved forward to build capacity to support quality teaching and learning related to democratic citizenship; Canada has not. As with the World Cup, while the world plays on Canada dabbles on the sidelines. (Contains 6 notes.)