Kobe Lloyd Franklin (born May 10, 2003) is a Canadian

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who plays as a defender for Toronto FC in

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

Early life

Born in Toronto, Franklin began playing soccer at age four with Beach Community Soccer. Shortly after he began to play with Power Soccer Academy. When he was 9, his family moved to Chicago, where he began playing with Evanston SC before quickly joining the academy of

club Chicago Fire. He later returned to Toronto, joining the Toronto FC Academy in February 2017.

Club career

He made his senior debut playing for the Senior Academy team, Toronto FC III, on August 19, 2018, in League1 Ontario against Ottawa South United, scoring a 94th minute goal, becoming the youngest ever goal scorer in League1 Ontario at the age of 15 years, 3 months. On May 13, 2021, he signed his first professional contract with Toronto FC II of USL League One to join the team for the 2021 season. He made his debut for Toronto FC II on May 22, 2021, against North Texas SC. He scored his first professional goal on August 18 against Forward Madison. On October 1, he recorded two assists and set up a third goal (although was not credited with a third assist) in a 3–0 victory over North Carolina FC. For the 2021 season, he was named a league First Team All-Star and was a finalist for both the USL League One Young Player of the Year and Defender of the Year awards. He was subsequently invited to training camp with the first team ahead of the 2022 season (and once again for the 2023 season). On April 1, 2022, he joined the first team, Toronto FC on a short-term four-day loan. He signed additional four day loans on April 23, May 4, and May 7. He made his

debut on May 4, 2022, as a second-half substitute against FC Cincinnati. In February 2023, he signed a two-year homegrown player contract with two option years with Toronto FC. After a few substitute appearances, Franklin made his first start on April 29, 2023 against New York City FC. On August 4, 2024, he scored his first goal for the club, netting the winning goal, in a 2-1 victory over Mexican side Pachuca in the 2024 Leagues Cup. In 2025, he was loaned to the second team for some matches.

International career

Franklin represented the Canada U17 team at the 2019 FIFA U-17 World Cup. In June 2022, he was named to the Canadian U-20 team for the 2022 CONCACAF U-20 Championship.

Career statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Franklin, Kobe 2003 births Living people Canadian men's soccer players Men's association football defenders Soccer players from Toronto Toronto FC players Toronto FC II players Canada men's youth international soccer players MLS Next Pro players USL League One players Major League Soccer players Homegrown Players (MLS) Toronto FC Academy players 21st-century Canadian sportsmen