Month: January 2016

A FIFA statistic says that one in 40 Canadians are playing soccer. That’s about the same as in Italy.

Canadians bought more than 29,000 tickets to the 2014 World Cup – more than all of the other nations that did not qualify.

Since the late nineties, soccer has ranked as the most favoured sport for children in Canada between five and 14 years of age. At that time, 32 per cent of boys and girls participating in sports were playing soccer and that number jumped to 42 per cent in 2010.

In other words, soccer is becoming a mainstream sport in Canada and young people are playing a big part in the shift.

In Ontario, youth soccer accounts for 280,000 registered players – not including schools or other teaching institutions or recreational soccer. But while the dramatic increase in recent years is impressive, skills training, formal coaching have not kept pace with growth and many young people are without the benefit of being shown the rudiments of the game that crafts the real player.

The CSL has announced a partnership with a recently-formed Ontario Youth Soccer Association for competition as a OYSA Division of the CSL. The OYSA  teams will interface with  CSL academy teams to begin play this coming May. Eventually, CSL professional players and highly qualified coaches with their considerable skills training experience mostly from Europe, will be made available for the benefit of the young players.

“This is an important step in making youth development an important part of the CSL,” said Pino Jazbec, the league administrator. “We believe that with the CSL Academy addition and the OYSA the right environment can be of great benefit to young players, particularly in  accelerating their playing skills.”

The youth academy arm of the CSL is available to boys and girls U-8, U-10,. U-12, U-14, U,16 and academies and clubs in Ontario are invited to enquire with the Ontario Youth Soccer Association for competition starting in May.

The CSL has also announces a partnership with the Canadian Corporate Soccer League, which is based in Montreal with comprehensive summer and winter competitions for corporate teams in that city. The CSL will assist in the development of a similar competition structure in Toronto.

 

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Even the most knowledgeable of soccer enthusiasts in Canada will be surprised to learn that it was not until 1991 when the Ukraine national soccer team was formed and that the first match was played against Hungary on April 29,1992. This followed Ukrainian independence from the Soviet Union.

Ukraine’s initial appearance in the World Cup was in 2006 and the first appearance in the European Championship came in 2012. Not surprising, Ukraine stood 123^rd in the FIFA rankings in 1993, but that eastern European country rocketed to 11^th position to be recognized as one of the world’s top teams in 2007 to remind the world that football is still the nation’s most favoured sport.

In Canada, and in other countries where Ukrainians settled, it was a different story. Toronto Ukraina showed prominence in Canada much earlier, winning the National Soccer League (NSL) championship five times during the period 1953 to 1965 during a very competitive period when many talented players – including high level professionals – came to southern Ontario from other parts of Europe.

The Ukrainian presence in Canadian soccer has faded in recent times, but that may be changing with the launch of Toronto Atomic in 2015 and an application by FC Ukraine United as an entry in the Canadian Soccer League’s first division this coming 2016 season.

Vladimir (Vlad) Koval, a native of Lviv, the largest city in western Ukraine, is the mover, determined to see his club prominent in Canadian pro soccer. The CSL and its standard of play is an environment that Koval, now 40, is familiar with, having played for Toronto Italia and Toronto Croatia in the nineties through to 2001 . He’s played in York Region, also, with a reputation as a goalscorer and his skills take him into Etobicoke where he volunteers some of his time to coach the minors.

“It has always been a dream of ours to be playing in Canadian Soccer League, at the highest level. This milestone seemed unachievable until this year. Fortunately, we were lucky to have met the right people who agreed to be our sponsors, and the players are also stronger and better skilled and ready to play at the next level,” said Koval recently.

Koval, Andrey Malychenkov, Denys Yanchuk and Evgen Ischak will be the principals of the club’s professional team after taking the  amateur side to success in the Ontario Soccer League, including a runner-up finish in the OSL’s Premier Central Division in 2015.

Malychenkov came to Canada from the Russian first and second division and played for North York Astros in the CSL, while Denys Yanchuk played in the Ukraine first division. Ishchak also has a strong soccer background, a high school MVP in soccer, former player with Toronto Supra and North York Astros in the CSL, and is the son of the famous Ukraine player Vasyl Ischak.

FC Ukraine United was formed in October 2006 and this coming October the club will be hoping to have a say in the CSL Championship to add to a 10^th anniversary celebration.

The league will be recommending acceptance of FC Ukraine United at a meeting of the CSL member clubs on January 24.

 

A study of the Canadian Soccer League in 2012 revealed that during the previous three-year period 2009 – 2012 no less than 40 players from throughout the league were selected for various national teams, mostly national youth teams, world-wide.

In earlier years, the most successful former CSL player was undoubtedly Atiba Hutchinson who made a brief appearance for York Region Shooters in 2002 and went on to play in Europe while making more than 70 appearances for the Canadian men’s team following 29 games for Canada’s under 20 and under 23 squads.

Some standout players, such as Paul Munster, who scored 25 goals in 19 appearances for the CSL’s London City before signing with Slavia Prague, one of the top teams in the Czech Republic in 2004, have moved on to take important coaching positions in Europe.

The glittering player gallery in the CSL archives has become so extensive that the league is considering launching a CSL Hall of Fame to recognize standout players who entered the CSL before moving to more lucrative, higher levels elsewhere.

Paying tribute to players from the past is one of a number of initiatives the CSL is pondering for 2016, a year that will put greater emphasis on youth and player development.

“We have a number of exciting initiatives, but we also face some challenges as we move toward the 2016 season,” said Pino Jazbec, the league administrator, recently. “The league has been around since 1926 and our history has often reflected the ups and downs of Canadian professional soccer over a long period of time.”

The most challenging issue in the New Year will be to ensure the league is free of match manipulation. The CSL has been dogged by reports of match fixing since allegations surfaced in a German court in 2011 that a CSL game played in Quebec in 2009 was fixed.  Despite discussions with the Canadian Soccer Association and FIFA, from which came suggestions of organizing workshops and seminars to combat the global problem of match fixing, no remedial steps have yet been taken place by soccer’s governance in Canada.

The CSL will be assigning match observers to all games played in 2016 in an attempt to identify games that appear suspicious. Under consideration also, is a working relationship with an organization that monitors betting data from sports events, including soccer and including the CSL.

There have been discussions with law enforcement agencies and while there is interest in prosecuting players involved in manipulating matches leading to fraud, any betting associated with the CSL is carried out off- shore, making charges in Canada more time consuming and difficult.  It’s worth remembering that while the Canadian Soccer Association suspended four national team players for one year for taking bribes in return for throwing a game against North Korea in Singapore in 1986, a Canadian court refused to handle the case.

Stan Adamson, the CSL’s director of media relations, has expressed concern about the extent to which the league as a whole can carry the stigma associated with allegations of match fixing. “Unfortunately, it’s a subject which can unfairly put a shadow over an entire league. When match manipulation is going on it can be unknown to a team’s management, let alone the clubs in general or the league administration,” he said.

Vincent Ursini, the CSL president, has expressed a hope that the betting companies in Europe will cease listing CSL games in their betting profile. Betting on CSL games is not available from Canadian betting interests, such as the OLG in Ontario.

Several new groups have shown interest to enter teams in the CSL for the 2016 season, applications have been received and the league is expecting to announce a kickoff mid-May with an extended player development structure additional to the popular Second Division. The Second Division accommodates certain new teams preferring to take a step by step approach to professional soccer, playing with reserve teams of the established clubs.