The 12 U.S. teams in the league are allowed to sign a maximum of four non-American players, and commissioner Don Garber revealed Wednesday that rules will be applied to Toronto FC so that Canadians get a good portion of the roster spots when the team kicks off next spring.

Toronto will get to use four imports, and it will be allowed as many as three Americans on top of that if it so chooses. That means as many as 11 Canadians might be on the 18-man playing roster.

Toronto will pick players from the 12 other teams in an expansion draft in late November. It also will get first pick in the entry draft Jan. 12 in Indianapolis, Garber said.

There are Canadians playing for European teams and ``we've got to find a way to get some of them home,'' said Garber, who was beating the drum for the expansion team while in the city as guest speaker at the annual Sports Media Canada luncheon.

While pro soccer has not made it big recently in Canada's largest metropolis, Garber is optimistic Toronto FC will be a smash hit because Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment is a rich owner and because a soccer-only home _ a 20,000-seat stadium on the lakeshore _ is being built for the team. Six of the 13 MLS clubs will be playing in soccer-specific venues next season, and the league wants all clubs to eventually have such facilities.

``If we'd continued in the United States to play in football stadiums, this league would not have succeeded,'' Garber said during a news conference. ``You've got people (in Toronto) who understand the sport.

``They don't want to sit in a baseball or a football stadium to watch soccer.''

Former Scotland star Mo Johnston was named head coach in August. Brennan, a 29-year-old midfielder from Newmarket, Ont., signed a multi-year contract in September. A handful of other player signings are expected in the next two weeks, and the roster will be filled out during the expansion draft.

The league long eyed Toronto because of the ``global and international nature of the city,'' said Garber. Toronto FC will have a racially diverse front office that will include a Mexican marketing chief.

There already have been ``thousands'' of inquiries about season tickets, said Garber, who visited Canada for CFL games in a previous job helping the NFL ally with the CFL.

``I get this country,'' he said.

The MLS salary cap for each team was US$1.9 million last season. The league's path is one of ``slow, conservative, logical growth,'' said Garber. Television networks are showing growing interest in expanded coverage of the 10-year-old league, he added.