State of the art Soccer facility at Downsview Park in north Toronto
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Canada's participation at the FIFA Mens U17 World Cup last week put some of the country's top young soccer talents firmly in the spotlight. With the nation's professional clubs continuing to pay great attention to player development, the future looks positive for young Canadian players who dream of performing at the highest level.
Vancouver Whitecaps FC, Toronto FC and Montreal Impact have all invested heavily in their Academy programs with the goal of creating an environment that can give Canada's top young players the best possible chance to succeed.
Work is underway on the project that will see Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment spend up to $20 million to create a permanent training base for all of its soccer teams, from the MLS players right down to the youngest Academy squad.
Tom Anselmi, MLSE's executive vice president and chief operating officer, believes the development of the facility will not only benefit his club, but play a big role building the game in Canada as well. "When we joined Major League Soccer one of our clear objectives was to grow the game in Canada. The game has enormous potential here in this country and player development is crucial. To be successful, you need to have the right facilities."
After four years without a training base, Toronto FC announced plans earlier this year to build a state of the art facility at Downsview Park in north Toronto. The project is scheduled to be completed by the middle of 2012.
"When we are all done we will have one of the great training complexes in the world," Anselmi said. "At the start of this process we went to eight or ten of the finest facilities in the world including Ajax and Barcelona and some in the English Premier League. We were also in Mexico last year with the team for a Champions League match and took a drive to Pachuca to see what they had just built."
"We have tried to borrow some of the great ideas and technologies that we have seen out there and will melt all of that into one pot here and connect it to what Downsview has already built. This is going to be a real epicentre for the game in Canada and North America."
After just three years of existence, Toronto FC's Academy has already started to bear fruit with six players already having been promoted to the club's professional ranks, but Anselmi expects the new facility to be a catalyst for even greater success.
"Player development starts at a very young age and with people like Aron Winter, Paul Mariner and Bob de Klerk plus the staff who started our Academy, we have got a lot of world class intelligence to work with. We currently have Under 19s and Under 17s and we are going to add three more teams."
"It is no secret that the infrastructure of soccer in Canada has been pretty fractured and really in the past the only big option that kids had was to go overseas. With a number of pro clubs in Canada now and a national program that they can aspire to, we are all working with the CSA and the provincial bodies. Everyone is setting aside history and looking at what is best for the game and how to create the best environment for Canadian players."
While the club hopes the new development will have a profound impact on the development of young soccer talent in the country, Anselmi also knows it will make recruiting much easier at all levels.
"This facility needs to say soccer, it needs to say TFC, it needs to say professional. Whether it is a ten-year-old kid and his Dad who we are trying to get connected to our Academy or the next Designated Player, we want this to be a place that will impress them and be somewhere they can continue to hone their craft and be the best they can be. This place needs to make a serious statement about us, our franchise and the game in Canada. If it does that, it will be a success."
