With just two weeks to kickoff there is high interest in the York Region Shooters vs Toronto Croatia game to be played Sunday evening, May 10, the second day of Soccer Fest ’15 – a weekend of  11 First Division and reserve team games in a near festive atmosphere to open a six-month Canadian Soccer League campaign

This first game of the season for these two Toronto area clubs will repeat a memorable CSL Championship encounter of last October 26 when the Shooters won the title in a 5-4 penalty kicks squeaker. The clash was described by fans on hand as being the most exciting game of the entire CSL season.

Following a scoreless tie at 90 minutes, York Region went ahead in extra time with a Richard West header from a cross by Adrian Pena, but Toronto Croatia tied the game with just four minutes remaining on a goal by Sean Brown. Then came the penalty kicks.

Darryl Gomez, former coach of York Region and coach of the winning championship team that day at Esther Shiner Stadium, who has experienced some great victories in the past in Canada and abroad, said recently the game was very special.  “It was the beginning of some serious coaching for me and to end the season and win the title following 20 games undefeated was certainly one of my special moments in soccer,” said the former standout attacking midfielder, now 37.

The Shooters have strengthened their technical staff with the addition of Carlos Rivas, the former Chilean international who became a national hero with a goal that defeated Ecuador to put his country into the World Cup in 1982.

York Region Shooters and Toronto Croatia finished one-two in the 2014 final standings and the game to be played at 7 pm will be the highlight of the opening weekend that will feature prizes and fun during the two-day event.

Admission at the ground is $10 for Adults, Children 12 and under is $5.

 CSL Soccer Fest  ‘15

     Saturday, May 9

10 am        Serbian White Eagles B vs  Burlington SC B               Second Division

12 pm        Toronto Atomic FC  vs  Niagara United                      First Division

2 pm          Toronto Atomic FC B vs Niagara United B                 Second Division

4 pm          London City vs SC Scarborough                                   First Division

6 pm          York Region Shooters B vs Toronto Croatia B           Second Division

8 pm          Milton SC vs Brampton City Utd                                 First Division                                                                                                         

                                                           Sunday, May 10

11 am         SC Waterloo B vs Brantford Galaxy B                       Second Division

1 pm           Serbian White Eagles vs Burlington SC                     First Division

3 pm           Milton SC B vs Brampton City Utd B                         Second Division

5 pm           Brantford Galaxy vs   SC Waterloo                            First Division

7 pm           York Region Shooters vs Toronto Croatia                First Division

 

 

 

 

A full slate of six First Division games at the St. Joan of Arc ground at Maple, just north of Toronto, will signal the opening of the Canadian Soccer League season on Saturday, May 9, an almost six-month long campaign that will run into November.
It will be noon May 9 when expansion club Toronto Atomic FC will kickoff the new season with Niagara United as the First Division opener , an opening festival-like weekend known as Soccer Fest 15 to celebrate the opening of a new CSL season.
Another new entry in the CSL, SC Scarborough, will play the second game in the top division at 4 pm, they take on London City, one of the oldest professional teams in North America, which launched in 1973. Both Toronto Atomic in the first game and SC Scarborough will be fielding players here from Europe.
The 12 First Division teams will each play 22 games before the top eight in the standings embark upon the CSL playoffs leading to the CSL Championship, won last year by the host of Soccer Fest 15 on May 9 – York Region Shooters. The Shooters won the title undefeated.
Following the Soccer Fest 15 weekend, the teams will continue the schedule on Friday, May 15 with games on Saturday and Sunday, a three-day weekend pattern that will continue each weekend until a rare mid-week encounter on Wednesday, June 10. Then the weekend games resume on Friday, June 12 through to the end of the regular season.

Second Division games of CSL reserve teams will be announced soon.

 

Sat May 9 St. Joan of Arc 12:00 pm Toronto Atomic FC Niagara United
Sat May 9 St. Joan of Arc 4:00 pm London City Scarborough SC
Sat May 9 St. Joan of Arc 8:00 pm Milton SC Brampton City Utd
Sun May 10 St. Joan of Arc 1:00 pm Serbian White Eagles Burlington SC
Sun May 10 St. Joan of Arc 5:00 pm Brantford Galaxy SC Waterloo
Sun May 10 St. Joan of Arc 7:00 pm York Region Shooters Toronto Croatia
Fri May 15 Jean Vanier Field 8:00 pm Milton SC Niagara United
Sat May 16 Birchmount Stadium 7:30 pm Scarborough SC Toronto Croatia
Sat May 16 Centennial Stadium 8:45 pm Toronto Atomic FC London City
Sun May 17 Victoria Park 5:00 pm Brampton City Utd Serbian White Eagles
Sun May 17 Lions Park Brantford 7:00 pm Brantford Galaxy Burlington SC
Sun May 17 Warrior Field Waterloo 7:00 pm SC Waterloo York Region Shooters

The Canadian Soccer League is about to have a new-look.
The familiar CSL logo, adopted in 2006, has been redesigned and will be on display in good time for the Soccer Fest ’15 season opening day kickoff on May 9.
“Our league has changed quite a bit in recent years and while we are looking to the future, we don’t forget those in history who were determined to develop a truly Canadian league, and we hope our new emblem reflects just that,” said CSL president Vincent Ursini in announcing the board’s approval of the new design.
The new mark was designed by Mari-Lynne Eastland Graphic Designs of Niagara Falls, Ontario, commissioned early this year to come up with a suitable design in time for the new season. The year in which the league was launched – 1926 – was a key consideration which the league decided to include.
The CSL was formed as the National Soccer League (NSL) with an opening game on June 19, 1926 between Toronto Ulster and Windsor Rovers and has steadfastly remained Canadian ever since.
The league became the Canadian National Soccer League (CNSL) in 1992, the Canadian Professional Soccer League (CPSL) in 1998 and the Canadian Soccer League (CSL) in 2006.

 

Toronto Croatia is in for a busy season.

But that’s not unusual for a club with nine CSL championships and two world club titles under its belt since 1970.

The now elder statesman in the Canadian Soccer League  – Toronto Croatia entered professional soccer in 1956 –   winning the inaugural Croatian World Club Championship in 2007 and again in 2011, while being the most successful team in Canadian league competition during the past 60 years.

This year is third time around for the Croatian World Club Championship of overseas Croatian teams and the Canadian entry aims to make it three in a row. The games are held every four years.

Eight teams took part in the original 2007 competition: Toronto Croatia (Canada), Croat San Pedro (U.S.A), Zrinski Chicago (U.S.A.), Canberra Croatia (Australia), Croatia Essen (Germany), Croatia Berlin (Germany), Croatia Villefranche (France), and Burgenland Croatian (Austria).

Toronto Croatia defeated Canberra Croatia 3-1 in the final and the Canadian team repeated the victory against their Australian opponents four years later in 2011, this time with a 5-0 romp.

“And it’s our goal to win again this year,” said Joe Pavicic, president of Toronto Croatia, now planning to take his team to Croatia for the games this coming June 27 to July 4.

Pavicic, who was installed as Toronto Croatia president in 2006 and who is also a member of the CSL’s executive committee, considers his club will be well prepared for the world tourney that comes right in the middle of a 22-game First Division regular season schedule and the ensuing season-end playoffs for the CSL Championship, all of which makes for a rigorous six months of tough competition as a member of Canada’s professional league.

“But we know what to expect and we look forward to it,” said Pavicic while talking about the Toronto Croatia players that took part in the first two world championship wins and want to be part of the hat-trick should they pull it off again this year. Head coach Velimir Crljen was emphasized for being a big part of the Toronto Croatia success in recent years.

Pavicic’s confidence is reminiscent of the time his club merged with Toronto Metros in the 70s and Toronto Metros-Croatia stunned the North American sports media by winning the 1976 North American championship to become known as 1976 Soccer Bowl Champions. They defeated Minnesota Kicks 3-0 at Seattle, and the victory was the first for a Toronto sports team since the Toronto Maple Leafs won the Stanley Cup in 1967. The victory also helped to bring the local community closer to the game of soccer, especially when Portuguese star Eusebio, the Metro-Croatia captain, received a cheque for the winners and honoured by Metropolitan Toronto in a civic ceremony.

That was then and now is now with the Croatian World Club Championship back in Zagreb, the venue for the inaugural games which then moved to the Adriatic coastal city of Split in 2011. Toronto Croatia aim to be well prepared while also attempting to repeat their last CSL championship win of 2012.

 

Many of the top soccer players of the world will tell you that the most significant occurrence in their careers was being seen by the right people in the early days, being spotted by a coach or a scout with the right connections.

With that in mind, the Canadian Soccer League teams are offering players 15 years old and over an opportunity to be seen.  A CSL club will take the young player into its organization for two weeks sometime during the next two months and if the player is considered to be sufficiently talented with the right basic skill level, together with the peripherals of good fitness, healthy lifestyle and has established an attitude conducive to good team spirit, a recommendation to a European club will be considered.

CSL clubs have a long history of sending players on trial to higher levels, mostly in Europe, and so far this year defender Winston Crozier of York Region Shooters has been scheduled for a trial this summer with Burnley of the English Premier League.

Players interested in a two-week invitation from a CSL club during the pre-season tryout and training period prior to the season kickoff in May,  are asked to write by regular mail, or send an email. Deadline for application is April 5, 2015. A meeting will be arranged, together with the appropriate family members or guardian.  For reasons of limited training capacity, the CSL reserves the right to limit the number of invitations at any time.

Write or email to: csl@canadiansoccerleague.ca

 Canadian Soccer League, Player Tryout,

5160 Explorer Drive, Unit 1,

Mississauga, Ontario L4W 4T7

Young players may have an opportunity to take part in a few training sessions with professional clubs following a decision taken at the annual meeting of team owners of the Canadian Soccer League over the weekend.

Vincent Ursini

Players 15 and over will be given an opportunity to apply to take part in pre-season training and coaching sessions during a two-week period leading to the CSL’s regular season kickoff and a number will be accepted on a first come first served basis.

The invitation came out of all-day discussions covering a wide range of topics relating to the competition, as well as business and legal issues requiring decisions before the CSL season gets underway.

The league lifted its restriction on the number of players a team can import, a measure introduced by North America’s soccer governance some years ago to ensure there were sufficient spots available in professional soccer for home grown players.

While the game gets tougher, it’s getting cleaner. That’s the opinion of CSL discipline chair Henry Helou who reported that there was a significant reduction in the number of yellow and red cards shown by the referees in 2014. The reduction in the number of discipline hearings and penalties handed down by the discipline panel was also considered to reflect an improvement in the amount of dissent being shown by players and coaches toward match officials.

Club president Ihor Prokipchuk and technical man Stas Honcharuk of Toronto Atomic FC, and SC Scarborough with Angel Belcev and Kiril Dimitrov attended their first CSL owners meeting. Tomo Dancetovic , GM of Brantford Galaxy, was also in attendance following the club’s return after a three-year absence.

“It’s going to be a busy and exciting season with four clubs entering an expanded 12-team First Division that were not there last year,” said Vincent Ursini, president of the CSL who will head the league for a further two years following a decision by the member clubs to extend his term of office.

The season will get underway the weekend of May 9 for both the First Division and the CSL’s reserve team following a pre-season press conference earlier in the week.

 Canadian Soccer League owners gather in Mississauga this weekend for an annual meeting prior to a season which promises to be one of the busiest on record.

The 12-team league will play more than 200 regular season and playoff games in two divisions over an almost six-month stretch from mid-May to late October or early November.

While it’s unlikely York Region Shooters will come up with a repeat of their unbeaten 2014 campaign  – all 21 regular season and playoff games without a loss – the defending champions are expected to be once again a serious  contender for top honours.

While some teams, including SC Waterloo and expansion club Atomic FC, are bringing in import players from Europe, others will be focussed on giving younger players an opportunity to play first entry professional soccer in the hope they will further develop to be included in an expanding list of players moving from the CSL to the higher levels in North America and overseas.

“Our reserve team is important to us on the development side, but we also expect to bring in three import players from Europe for our First Division team,” said GM Vojislav Brisevac of SC Waterloo, one of the more successful teams to join the CSL in recent years.

The meetings on Sunday will deal with the competition and also the business side of  Canada’s leading league, both in the near term as well as the long term goals. Announcements will follow.

 

 Ihor Prokipchuk has plenty on his mind these days.

The Ukrainian-born Toronto businessman running a successful company in the heating and cooling industry and pre-occupied with a busy soccer academy, is about to launch Atomic FC, a team in the competitive Canadian Soccer League. All while his mind remains fixed on the daily strife in his former homeland which by chance makes his team the beneficiary of a number of players moving to Canada.

“I’ve wanted to play a greater role in professional soccer for as long as I can remember and the CSL gives me that opportunity to launch this team and include some players wanting to get away from the trouble where soccer has now taken a back seat. The players are grateful to Canada for the opportunity to play in the CSL,” said the former pro player from that eastern European country.

Several players have already been granted work permits to play in the CSL, including from Lviv, Ternopil and Dnipropetrovsk.

Atomic FC will kick off its CSL campaign in May, one of two additions in an expanded 12-team First Division in the CSL. SC Scarborough is the other, while Brantford Galaxy returns from a three-year absence and Milton SC moves up to the top division following a successful first year launch in the CSL Division Two. Other First Division teams in Canada’s top league this upcoming season are Brampton City Utd., Burlington SC, London City, Niagara United, Serbian White Eagles, Toronto Croatia, SC Waterloo and York Region Shooters.

Prokipchuck, who played for six years as a professional in a country where football is the dominant sport highlighted by a quarter-finals position for the national team in the 2006 World Cup and followed by a successful hosting of the 2012 European Championship.

Prokipchuk is surrounded in his soccer activities by an abundance of skills with no shortage of experience, including head coach Ihor Yavorsky, who holds a UEFA B licence and time in the Ukraine’s Premier League and First Division, while Stas Honcharuk, a product of the Dynamo Kyiv academy who excels as an instructor in the local academy environment, has played professionally in the Ukraine and Poland. He will be playing for the CSL professional team.

“We take our football very seriously and the CSL will find we have a very professional approach to the game as we channel our young academy players in the right direction,” said Prokipchuk. The Atomic Selects Academy is a member of the Canadian Academy of Futbol (CAF). Of course, we share the responsibility of supporting our people in the Ukraine. Everyone understands that Ukrainians are hard-working, decent people wherever they are and we in Canada will do whatever we can to help,” he added.

Atomic FC are also entering a reserve team in the CSL Second Division and both teams will be playing out of the LCI Institute Stadium in Toronto’s west-end  for a kickoff expected to be the weekend of May 16.

Players seeking a tryout for first entry to professional soccer are invited to email atomicselects2013@gmail.com.