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Adam Pearlman is an 18 year old defender currently playing for Toronto FC in the MLS, having recently transferred from the team’s reserve squad at the beginning of this season.
Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Adam moved to Thornhill, Toronto with his family at the age of 7, which he said helped with the development of his own football career. He also said that he is proud to represent the Jewish community coming from Thornhill, which is home to many Jews. “I’m super proud to represent being a Jew at a professional level”. He began his career playing for a local side before travelling to a tournament in Costa Blanca, Spain.
Two years on from the tournament in Spain, Adam was signed by the Toronto FC academy, spending six seasons there before being promoted to the team’s reserve team. After two seasons there, he was promoted to Toronto’s senior squad.
Having trained with the senior squad for the last two seasons, Adam said that this has involved working with players like Matty Longstaff, Federico Bernardeschi and Lorenzo Insigne, the club’s most high profile European player, transferring from Napoli in 2022.
When asked what the experience of moving to the senior squad has been for him as a player, Adam said that “it’s been a good challenge for me as a young player”, and described training with players like Insigne, Bernardeschi and Longstaff as being an “eye-opener” for his development. He also praised the former for the impact he’s had on the squad both on and off the pitch, despite the initial language barrier.
Adam said that the biggest difference he has noticed between playing at youth level and moving to the men’s squad is the speed that he is now playing at, with the MLS becoming a more developmental league. Since the arrival of players like Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets and Hugo Lloris, Adam believes that the quality and the reputation of the MLS has improved as a league and that “the gap is closing between European and American football”. Although his current focus is on Toronto, Adam did not rule out playing in Europe in the future, and said that he was taking this phase of his career “one game at a time”.
At Toronto, Adam currently plays under John Herdman, the former manager of the Canadian national team who led the team at the World Cup in Qatar in 2022. Toronto have enjoyed a promising start to the season, winning two of their first four games. Adam praised Herdman for the way in which “he’s done a good job bringing the team back together. We had a tough year last year and he’s been good with getting everyone on the same page”.
In addition to his experience at club level, Adam also represented Canada earlier this month at an U20 World Cup qualifiers tournament, where the team successfully made it through to the next round. With Toronto set to help with hosting the World Cup in 2026, Adam said that the prospect was a huge event for Canada and Toronto alike.
Following a rough season for the team last year, Adam said that Toronto’s focus for the year is to compete for the quadruple, winning their respective division titles, domestic cups and challenging for the American Champions League, where they would also face off against teams from Central and South America alike.
When asked about his own individual aspirations at Toronto in his debut season, Adam said that his personal goal is to cement his own position in the Toronto first team- “I want to break into that team and be a part of it as much as possible”.