PICTURE: When CSL soccer returns on Saturday, August 15, it will be a brief season, but an exciting one as five teams play for the league title followed by the CSL championship through to the end of October.  There will be much action featured on the CSL website with regular game reports.

When FC Vorkuta opens the abbreviated 2020 season at Esther Shiner Stadium late Saturday afternoon the side at the top of Toronto will begin its brief campaign to keep up an impressive record of winning either the Canadian Soccer League championship or the First Division title since venturing into professional soccer in 2017.

The team –  named after a community in northern Russia –  became a strong member of the local community and Canada’s soccer community by investing in the organization with a decade in the amateur leagues after launching in Toronto in 2008. Stepping up to win the CSL First Division title in the opening 2017 season attracted a lot of attention and even more when winning the CSL Championship the following year. In third year 2019 Vorkuta captured the CSL First Division title yet again.

Such success on launching is a rare achievement in Canadian soccer and is attributed by some to Vorkuta adopting a duel role with the club’s strong interest in local talent and a careful selection of players from Europe.

The opener this coming weekend has Vorkuta hosting Brantford Galaxy at the Esther Shiner ground in north Toronto on Saturday at 5, part of a double header with Hamilton City vs Serbian White Eagles in a second game at 7.

“It is great to be back into it and our final practice on Wednesday puts us close to being ready. But we are very optimistic and confident about what we want from this season,” said FC Vorkuta GM Samad Kadirov.

Five teams (Brantford Galaxy, Hamilton City, Scarborough, Serbian White Eagles and FC Vorkuta) in the Canadian Soccer League First Division will take part in the long-awaited schedule, to be played at two grounds, Esther Shiner during August, followed by Centennial Stadium in Toronto’s west end during September, through to October 3 at the end of the regular schedule.

The CSL Championship playoffs will follow with the top four in the regular season league standings advancing to the playoff semifinals during October, followed by the championship game.

The Toronto city and Ontario provincial by-laws respecting the Covid-19 pandemic are in effect at all games, which limits spectator attendance to 100 and officials  attached to participating teams during the time their game is in progress. A physical distance of at least two metres is a requirement of  everyone watching the game.

The opening games:

Sat Aug 15 Esther Shiner Stadium 5 pm FC Vorkuta vs Brantford Galaxy
Sat Aug 15 Esther Shiner Stadium 7 pm Hamilton City vs Serbian White Eagles
Sat Aug 22 Esther Shiner Stadium 5 pm Scarborough SC  vs Hamilton City
Sat Aug 22 Esther Shiner Stadium 7 pm Serbian White Eagles vs FC Vorkuta
Sat Aug 29 Esther Shiner Stadium 5 pm Brantford Galaxy vs Serbian White Eagles
Sat Aug 29 Esther Shiner Stadium 7 pm FC Vorkuta vs Scarborough SC
Tues Sep 1  Centennial Stadium 7 pm Hamilton City vs FC Vorkuta
Wed Sep 2 Centennial Stadium 7 pm Scarborough SC vs Brantford Galaxy 

PICTURE:  FC Vorkuta striker Fadi Salback, signed in 2019 from the local community, is on trial with FC Podillya Khmelnytskyi, a  Ukrainian football team based in Khmelnytskyi Oblast, Ukraine, and is included in the line-up for a high level exhibition game on August 7.

Fadi Salback’s introduction to professional soccer came in the spring of 2019 after signing for FC Vorkuta, not the easiest of entries at a time when the Vorkuta club ended its 2018 campaign securing its first professional championship title in the Canadian Soccer League First Division, and the double by winning the Second Division. The strength of both Vorkuta teams left little opportunity for young promising players to secure a place in what was suddenly considered one of the strongest teams in Canadian soccer.

But Salback had impressed the Vorkuta organization while playing for the opposition in an indoor match during the winter of 2018-19 and the CSL club was encouraged enough to offer the young Ontario Tech University striker an opportunity in the FC Vorkuta reserve team. Before coming to Canada, Salback, now 23, was a young academy player with Maccabi Haifa in Israel, known for its youth development programs.

 While with FC Vorkuta during the 2019 season, Salback was also playing for the Ontario Tech University of Oshawa and was honoured at the championship banquet at Montreal when he received the U- SPORTS Rookie of the Year Award. U-SPORTS is the national governing body for university sports across Canada. He scored a record 16 goals for Ontario Tech in his first season and the all-Canadian Rookie of the Year was also named an east division first team all star. Six of Salback’s goals in 2019 were game winners.

Salback scored four goals in his 2019 CSL Second Division reserve team debut, a performance that caused a quick move to the highly regarded Vorkuta first string.

His father, Nabil Salback was a professional footballer in Israel.

The FC Vorkuta striker is now on trial with FC Podillya Khmelnytskyi, a professional Ukrainian football team based in Khmelnytskyi Oblast, Ukraine, and competes in the Ukrainian Second Division. His first test is in an exhibition match on August 7.

That a Canadian player is on trial in Ukraine is an achievement in itself. Few Canadians have had the opportunity, due primarily to a country having an abundance of talent and few open opportunities for foreign players to play in the rich, but limited Ukraine professional football structure.

 “To break into European professional soccer is a great opportunity for Fadi and it’s an opportunity he deserves,” said Igor Demitchev, a Toronto lawyer and principal sponsor of the highly successful  Vorkuta club. “He is certainly talented and his 2019 season experience in the tough CSL has served him well. I believe he has a great future at a high level.”

FC Vorkuta’s success since entering the CSL in 2017 is due largely to importing experienced players from Europe, but the club has also been well focused on young Canadian talent in the local community since forming in 2008 and considers Fadi Salback to be first of several in the organization to have an opportunity for high level soccer in Canada and abroad.

 The Canadian Soccer League kickoff set for Saturday, August 8 is on hold has now been moved tentatively to Saturday, August 15. All games will be at Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke and the abbreviated and revised schedule is expected to be released during the week of August 10.

PICTURE:  Scarborough SC, including the combination of GM Kiril Dimitrov (right) and head coach Zoran Rajovic who share congratulations, will be playing in an abbreviated  2020 season  to defend the team’s CSL Championship victory of 2019.

While professional soccer in North America continues to struggle back to normalcy, the Canadian Soccer League is no exception while faced with a diminishing calendar now shifting quickly into the second half of 2020.

With local conditions dealing with COVID 19 in team sports in Canada now showing some signs of being relaxed during the July – August period, the CSL has announced the kickoff of an abbreviated schedule for games to begin on Saturday. August 8.

It will be a First Division schedule to be followed by playoffs leading to the CSL Championship Final in October.

Seven teams will take part with all games played at 3 pm on Saturdays at Centennial Stadium in Etobicoke on the western edge of Toronto. The league winner will gain a bye to the semifinals while six teams play  quarterfinal deciders from the regular season league final standings of positions 2 vs 7, 3 vs 6 and 4 vs 7.  The team gaining the bye and the winning teams advancing from the quarterfinals will also be drawn with the higher placed teams meeting the lowest placed teams in the semifinals.

Most teams in the CSL sign import players from various countries in Europe and its expected that du to the travel restrictions there will be a depleted number of imports compared to recent years, which provides an increased opportunity for more Canadian players on the team’s rosters to take part in what is expected to be a competitive series of matches to decide the league champion and the CSL Championship winner.

The teams taking part are Brantford Galaxy, CSC Mississauga, Hamilton City 1, Real Mississauga, Scarborough SC and Serbian White Eagles, FC Vorkuta

Scarborough SC are the current CSL champions.

It was near the end of April 1998 when Gerard Houllier arrived in Toronto to be part of a 3-day coaching session, giving priority with the visit to help Canada become a world contender in soccer.

It was a surprising visit given that Houllier was one of the busiest soccer administrators in the world at that time-frame with the World Cup finals in France just weeks away and he was the top technical man in charge of coaching and player development for the French FA. He also carried the additional responsibility of being a member of the FIFA technical team for the big event kicking off the beginning of June.

Houllier was a star in world technical circles and was tipped to be manager of the national team after leading Lens to promotion and qualification for the UEFA Cup before he moved to Paris Saint-Germain in 1985. Under Houllier, PSG won the French title the following year.

Houllier eventually became assistant manager followed by manager of the French national team in 1992.

With World Cup fever building, the weekend visit of Houllier to Toronto attracted a lot of attention in the soccer community and 200 coaches from across Canada registered for the three weekend sessions staged by Bryst International Soccer Academy. It was a full house and in his opening remarks Houllier explained his surprising presence by saying “I’m here because Gary Miller is my friend.”

Miller, the president and founder of Bryst International Soccer Academy was often described as a top technical man with a passion for Canadian soccer and one of the best in skills training.  He always considered Canada needed the best advice the world could offer if this country is to progress beyond the qualification stage in the World Cup. The need to bring overseas coaches and player development specialists to strengthen Canada’s coaching would lead to more special players.

Gary Miller, the director of soccer operations with Ontario Soccer who died following a heart attack on May 13 at the age of 63, had an international perspective driven by his desire to see Canada on the world stage. He was persistent in planning similar visits by world coaches and high level technical men and during the year prior to Houllier’s visit it was Frans Hoek the former goalkeeper coach with Ajax. There were many before and afterwards.

Miller showed his appreciation for the expanding and stronger soccer academy community in Canada, and the need for stronger competition on the field of play, all necessary to accommodate young Canadians with promise. He held an appreciation of the Canadian Soccer League and was an important figure in the forming of the Canadian Premier League and Ontario’s  League1.

Miller played at Western University in the 1970s and was inducted to the Western Mustangs Hall of Fame in 2004. He was a technical director with the Ontario Soccer Association from 1985 to 1990 and served as the director of high performance from 1992 to 1994 before returning to Ontario Soccer in 2015 to become director of soccer operations. He also served as the Canadian Soccer Association’s high performance director from 1990 to 1992.

The comment by Houllier during his opening remarks to open the weekend workshop was a reflection of the considerable respect of Gary Miller held by a great many high level technical specialists in football world-wide. At the same time, Miller’s very friendly disposition produced a very large community of those in Canada and elsewhere who considered the Bryst Academy founder easy to like and to work with. He became a friend to so many.

Gary Miller was a great husband and father and was survived by his wife Cindy, daughters Stephanie and Briana, and son Ryan.

The Canadian Soccer League has delayed the kickoff of the 2020 season for a further month beyond the earlier May 29 start announced at the beginning of April. A further delay to Monday, June 29, is the new target kickoff date following recent decisions of local municipalities which owns and operates the enclosed stadiums and following recommendations of senior health officials.

Should the kickoff take place on June 29, CSL administrator Pino Jazbec remains confident of scheduling a complete season including playoffs during the months of July, August, September and October. “The schedule will continue to be played on weekends, with a few midweek games to accommodate the entire season before November 1,” he said.

The Canadian Premier League has not ruled out playing some matches in the 2020 season behind closed doors. “But the reality is, without fans in the stands, there is no revenue.” CPL commissioner David Clanachan told Sportsnet 590 The Fan on April 16. Without a firm plan just yet, the league has said it is  constantly running different scenarios on what a 2020 season would look like to get it back to normal.

Announcements from the soccer communities elsewhere include Major League Soccer which has extended its resumption of the schedule to at least June 8. The league says it continues to explore scheduling options to accommodate a full season, including a delay of the MLS Cup into December or later.

Soccer in Spain is considering resuming play shortly, but without fans.  The soccer federation decided that if they don’t re-start the season soon it may be necessary to use the present standings to decide the four clubs to play in the Champions League, which would mean giving the spots to Barcelona, Real Madrid, Sevilla and Real Sociedad.

Meetings at the English Premier League suggest the clubs are still hopeful of resuming their campaign soon and latest reports suggest that clubs want the season finished by June 30.  May 18 is set as a day to resume training.

PICTURE: The Belarusian Premier League was going full tilt last week and will be at it again this coming weekend. All top flight leagues in Europe and most leagues world-wide are wisely at a standstill and Canada is no exception. The Canadian Soccer League is holding on to its tentative end of May kickoff. 

While providing an update to the Canadian Soccer League 2020 season with a tentative schedule to kickoff at the end of May, the league pays tribute to a Toronto area coach who died from coronavirus on April 2. 

Toni Alati, 49, was a popular coach with the Woodbridge Soccer Club and was a true Toronto FC fan. But more than that, he loved baseball, hockey and sports in general.

 Alati was heavily involved in local community affairs with the Ratepayers Association and often a voice for Woodbridge at Vaughan council meetings where he brought attention to the preservation of the natural environment in Woodbridge and insisted on careful consideration of condo development in the area.

  “Woodbridge Strikers is a great community soccer organization and it is that way due to the hard work and enormous dedication of people like Toni Alati, a very popular figure in the region just north of Toronto. We at the CSL send our heartfelt regrets to his family and his many friends. Toni is certainly going to be missed,” said Dragan Bakoc, president of the Canadian Soccer League.

 Toni, 49,  leaves his wife Agnese and daughter Arianna (a local soccer player), and an extended family.  

 Several others in the world soccer community have died after contracting the coronavirus, including the mother of English Premier League Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola. She sadly passed away at the age of 82. Dolors Sala Corrio died in Manresa, Barcelona. Former Real Madrid president Lorenzo Sanz died Saturday from the new coronavirus He was 76.

With suggestions of the coronavirus leveling off later in April, the CSL May 29 kickoff date, while tentative and with dependency on community decisions outside of the league’s control, is still considered realistic as long as the pandemic peaks and flattens out during the next 2 – 3 weeks. Games may have to be played without any public attendance.

 Several CSL teams with rosters that include players from abroad are affected by the travel restrictions now in place. Certain teams have players still in Canada on a temporary resident visa, while other players under contract with CSL clubs and expected to return to Canada for the new season, as well as new players, continue to experience uncertainty with travel plans. Most CSL teams do have strong rosters, however, that include domestic players available to step in if needed.

 Toronto FC president Bill Manning has expressed his optimism that there will be a Major League Soccer season despite being put on hold after teams played just two games of a schedule that has more games than ever before following the addition of expansion teams Inter Miami CF and Nashville FC. MLS now has 26 teams.

 The Canadian Premier League, which was scheduled to kick off its new season on April 11, is now on in a holding position for a decision to resume its games based on the progress necessary to reduce the spread of the virus.

 League 1 in Ontario and the Premiere Ligue de soccer du Quebec have both taken a position that kickoff for the 2020 season is suspended indefinitely following the suspension of all soccer matches in Canada under the governance of Canada Soccer.

 The English Premier League, Italy’s Serie A, the Budesliga in Germany and most top flight soccer leagues throughout the world have suspended schedules indefinitely. There is an exception with the Belarusian Premier League  which is playing and enjoying its global attention in doing so, broadcasting its matches to 10 countries and can be streamed live in Canada.

PICTURE: The CSL is encouraging its players to follow the government moratorium on gatherings and train on their own until it is announced as being safe to do otherwise.

With uncertainly the order of the day in Canada and world-wide due to the coronavirus epidemic it has not been possible to provide a meaningful kickoff date for the Canadian Soccer League 2020 season.

The league has, however, now announced a start to the season of late May with Friday, May 29 as a tentative opening day for regular season games.  The schedule will go to September, with playoffs and the Championship Day to the end of October.

CSL administrator Pino Jazbec has explained that a tentative schedule is under preparation for the late May kickoff. “We will have something to be guided by and will make any adjustments that may be necessary as dictated by the circumstances of the pandemic,” he explained over the March 28 weekend.

Canada Soccer has suspended all sanctioned soccer games in Canada until further notice, which at the professional level includes all matches except the CSL and Canada’s three teams in Major League Soccer which is governed by the U.S.-based league. MLS kicked off on February 29 and games have been postponed since March 7.

The CSL is encouraging its players to follow the government moratorium on gatherings and train on their own until it is announced as being safe to do otherwise. “The CSL considers the safety of its players, coaches and others involved in preparation for the new season of the utmost importance and urge its members to follow closely the requirements of the government and public health agencies at all times,” said Jazbec.

Further new season bulletins and updates will be issued from time to time.

PICTURE: Krum Bibishkov, now player coach and head coach of Real Mississauga of the Canadian Soccer League has played close to 350 professional games with distinction during a 20-year period, mostly in Europe where he is seen here.

When Krum Bibishkov recently questioned the fairness of a league rule for teams loaning players, it was characteristic of the mild-mannered player of friendly demeanor being the complete footballer, whether it be playing, coaching, or ensuring there is a level playing field while representing his club.

Now in the twilight of a sparkling playing career that rose to greater heights when signed at the age of 17 by Bayern Munich of the German Bundesliga (named to the reserve team), later selected to the Bulgarian U-21 national team, then named Footballer of the Year with Bulgarian club Litex Lovech while winning the Bulgarian Cup in 2008.  Some of the highlights of those earlier years included playing in the UEFA Cup competition and his team then qualified for the UEFA Europa League.

Bibishkov has played close to 350 professional games, earlier as a forward, sometimes a midfielder mostly in Bulgaria, then Germany, Portugal, Romania and Israel to be considered a player of some distinction for more than 20 years.  Today, he is with the CSL’s Real Mississauga where he often enters the field following a first half of coaching from the side line.

Bibishkov first entered Canada in 2016 to play in the Canadian Soccer League’s Brantford Galaxy, then signed as player-coach for Scarborough the following season before moving to expansion club Real Mississauga in 2018.

Coaching is important to the now 37 year old, both as a UEFA certified coach teaching the fundamentals to the U-11 players with Canada First Academy for Soccer Excellence in Toronto and being head coach of a team in the semi-professional CSL. With more than a million soccer players registered in Canada (760,000 with the Canadian Soccer Association and another close to 300,000 with organized, unaffiliated soccer) Bibishkov is doing his part passing on the much needed skills to Canadians while in Canada and while he has an opportunity to do so.

PICTURE: FC Vorkuta striker Fadi Salback has been a first year hit for FC Vorkuta and the Canadian university soccer community where he received the Rookie of the Year Award from the national governing body for university sports across Canada.

Canadian Soccer League teams have a long history of signing established professional players from abroad and a similar reputation for assisting in the development of young players for higher levels in Canada and other countries in many parts of the world.

A peak period for exceptional young players in the CSL came during the 2009 – 2012 three-season period when 40 CSL players of various nationalities were selected for several national teams, most in the under 21 and under 23 rosters.

Today, there are a number of promising young players scattered throughout the CSL and several have come to the forefront following outstanding play at university while also playing in the CSL during the 2019 season.

Fadi Salback, a striker with FC Vorkuta and standout with Ontario Tech University in Oshawa was honoured at a championship banquet at Montreal in November when he received the U- SPORTS Rookie of the Year Award. U-SPORTS is the national governing body for university sports across Canada.

Salback scored a record 16 goals for Ontario Tech in his first season and the all-Canadian Rookie of the Year was also named an east division first team all star. Six of Salback’s goals in 2019 were game winners.

The Israeli-born forward scored four goals in his 2019 CSL Second Division debut with FC Vorkuta reserves and was quickly moved to the first team scoring six goals in five appearances.

Salback, 22, was a young academy player with Maccabi Haifa, a top professional club in Israel known for its youth development programs before moving to Canada. His father, Nabil Salback was a professional footballer in Israel. Now a resident of Bowmanville, Ontario, Fadi was selected to the Ontario U-16 squad before entering Ontario Tech University to study software engineering. He was signed by FC Vorkuta in April, 2019 after being spotted by FC Vorkuta while playing in the Thornhill indoor league just north of Toronto during the winter months.

“Fadi was playing for our opposition at the time and he stood out. We were pleased to sign him and he’s now considered one of our top assets with real promise for the future,” said FC Vorkuta GM Samad Kadirov.

Salback explains that his one season in the CSL has advanced his game and he has signed for the upcoming 2020 season. “It’s more physical, with pace and is more competitive and I’ve benefitted from that. And by the way, I’ve appreciated the FC Vorkuta environment, the people as well as the players have been great,” he said.

The CSL regular season  kicks off mid-May through to September with playoffs and the CSL Championship final in October.

PICTURE: Announcer Enio Perruzza was once called upon to play for short-handed North York Astros in the CPSL

Backup goaltender David Ayres, a Zamboni driver and Canadian operations manager at the Coca-Cola Coliseum in Toronto, became an overnight sensation when he took to the ice for the Carolina Hurricanes during the second period of an NHL game against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on February 22.

The 42 year old Whitby, Ontario native was called upon after both Carolina goalies were injured and the occasion stirred memories of a similar substitute in the Canadian Soccer League by soccer announcer Enio Perruzza who was called upon to help North York Astros when the team was short-handed during an important Canadian Professional Soccer League (now the CSL) match on September 5, 1999, a holiday weekend.

Perruzza’s booming voice has become familiar to soccer fans in Ontario for 33 years since August 3,1986 when he first announced the players, match officials and everything of consequence at a Toronto Blizzard game. He has been the regular announcer for the CSL and other key games ever since.

The Italian-born occasional soccer player has also kept the fans informed through the PA system at well-attended games involving Benfica, Red Star Belgrade and the Italian military team as well as the odd international match, such as the Mexican under-20 side. Perruzza has also been assigned to18 Ontario Cup finals. He’s also called indoor soccer and has been invited over the years to provide colour commentary on television.

But he did not play soccer at the CSL level until entering the field that Sunday afternoon 20 years ago. The match ended in a 7-0 victory for the opposition Glen Shields Sun Devils, a contrast to the David Ayres experience of being part of the Carolina Hurricanes 6-3 victory which resulted in Ayers being feted in Raleigh, North Carolina a few days later.

“They got me in on a 3-game temporary permit, but that was the only game I ever played in the CSL,” explained Perruzza when the Astros game two decades ago was remembered. “It was at Dufferin District Park in Thornhill and I remember Phil Ionadi scoring their last goal for the 7-0 win. It was a crazy experience for me but not the only time odd things have happened, I remember a game in 1988, the last game of the CSL season when 50,000 packages of La Molissana pasta were given away. It was a very late kickoff and was called ‘Midnight Madness’.”