There’s a fresh new face under the ever-growing umbrella of Manitoba soccer.

A press conference on Thursday morning at Sport Manitoba officially revealed the sale of WSA Winnipeg’s USL League Two franchise to a local group, that has rebranded the club to FC Manitoba.

Now owned by the Garcea Group of Companies, a major player in Winnipeg’s construction market, FC Manitoba will compete in the newly-expanded Heartland Division of USL League Two and play out of Ralph Cantafio Soccer Complex – the same league and venue as the previous WSA Winnipeg. Don’t let this fool you though – this isn’t just a rebrand – this is a complete revamp of a system that many felt was outdated and stale. A player-first mentality is what FC Manitoba will strive to uphold, and they’ve recruited a development-focused duo of Jorge Cabral and Nano Romero to help lead the charge alongside Enrique and John Garcea, as the new franchise aims to make waves in the province and help grow the culture of soccer in the local scene.

WSA Winnipeg, the former USL League Two franchise, was formed in 2001 by a team of Eduardo Badescu, who coached the team until last year, Constantin Ignat, and William Rosales. Over the years, WSA developed many strong players and helped semi-professional players adapt to a professional environment. If you take a look at the roster of Winnipeg’s new professional CPL team, Valour FC, you’ll notice a few players who have come through the WSA system to make it at a professional level.

As I hinted at earlier, Eduardo Badescu will no longer be the head coach of the team, but the planning committee for FC Manitoba was in full praise of his contributions to the franchise and soccer in Manitoba in general:

“We would like to publicly acknowledge Eduardo Badescu, who founded, coached, and managed the Winnipeg franchise over the years. Without him we would not be here today, so we appreciate all the hard work he has done for us and for this team” – Jorge Cabral

The new head coach of FC Manitoba is yet to be determined, but that will be one of many exciting announcements to come from the club over the next couple of months, alongside player information, ticketing information, and the kit release.

What exactly is the new pathway?

Rather than relying on the soccer federation or other external organizations to decide the pathway, FC Manitoba has taken things into their own hands, by combining the different entities of their owners into a single, cohesive one.

FC Manitoba will mimic a professional environment and act as a springboard for players to move to professional domestic or international leagues. They will also have Manitoba Major Soccer League’s Ital-Inter backing them up as an inter-connected feeder team, where players who are at the later stages of the development cycle, most likely in their mid-to-late teens, will be getting ready to take their steps into professional football as well.

Lastly, the 1v1 Futbol Dreams Academy, co-founded by Nano Romero and Enrique Garcea, will be the foundation of the entire system. The 1v1 academy is a grassroots system for players aged 9-15, and will attempt to prepare young players for the pathway that has been laid out clearly in front of them.

There’s no more “where can I play?” or “what do I do now?” – FC Manitoba’s pathway is one that is defined, cohesive, and expansive, and is being led by a group that wants to create a positive culture of player development.

As mentioned earlier, FC Manitoba will continue competing in the Heartland Division of USL League Two’s Central Conference, and their fixture list has already been released. They will open their season with 5 consecutive away matches, before playing their home opener on June 7th at Ralph Cantafio Soccer Complex against the Green Bay Voyageurs.

WSA Winnipeg has had issues with attendance and exposure in the past, but this new pathway, along with the growing appetite for high-level soccer in Manitoba, means that the fortunes will likely change for FC Manitoba – at least in the long-term.

While WSA Winnipeg was noted for only picking players from Winnipeg while their competitors in USL League Two picked players from all across the globe (which is a large reason why WSA’s win-loss record was continuously poor), Jorge Cabral confirmed that FC Manitoba will not necessarily maintain the exact same mindset, although he made it clear the club was still about Manitoba and local development:

“I think it would be foolish of us to think we can develop our players without any international influence…That’s the only way we can get our own local boys playing better. They have to learn from other people and it doesn’t always have to be from a coach.” – Jorge Cabral

A few months ago, before the takeover, WSA Winnipeg announced that they would be instilling a women’s team into their program. While this could still happen, it will not be under the FC Manitoba name, as the Garcea Group only purchased the USL League Two men’s franchise. The planning committee made it clear that they are focusing solely on the development of male footballers for the time being.

Perhaps the most refreshing thing about the group behind FC Manitoba is their desire for change.

Many people in the province wanted some change in the system – that’s the truth – but most of these people merely sat back with a drink and hoped for change to unfold in front of them eventually. Jorge Cabral, Nano Romero, Enrique Garcea, and John Garcea decided to make the change happen themselves, and that sort of desire to take control of things by the scruff of its neck is exactly what this province’s soccer landscape has been crying out for at the developmental level.

You can sum all of this up by repeating something Enrique Garcea said, when asked what he would say to a player going through the pathway:

“There is finally a light at the end of the tunnel”

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Mahith Gamage Website An avid football fan right from his first experiences with the sport, Mahith Gamage has been dabbling in football journalism for a few years now, creating his own world football blog and podcast, freeflow football, whilst featuring frequently on many other football media outlets, covering European football. With the start of the Canadian Premier League in 2019, Mahith began coverage of his hometown club, Valour FC, through NSXI. He enjoys spreading his knowledge and opinions of the beautiful game to fellow football fanatics in Canada and throughout the world, using articles and tweets, thriving particularly on tactical analysis and player scouting. You can find him tweeting about world football day and night, at @mahithgamage.

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