On Saturday April 7, a group of soccer fans dedicated to growing Canada’s soccer foothold gathered with representatives of Canada Soccer to discuss the future of the beautiful game. Dr. Nick Bontis, Vice President and Chair of the Strategic Management Committee was remarkably and refreshingly candid about the mistakes that the CSA has made in the past, as well as the difficulties that will continue to be faced in the future. Despite these challenges, there is a lot of reason to be optimistic. Bontis, alongside Earl Cochrane (Chief Strategic Development Officer) shared some of the goals that the CSA will be focusing on in the upcoming years, while answering questions of those in attendance.

The two-hour town hall presentation started with Bontis looking into the crystal ball. He described some prescient trends that he believes will transpire in the next decade including the proliferation of super clubs at the amateur level and the explosion of specialized management at the professional level. Bontis then continued with an honest report card of how much of the current strategic plan has been achieved thus far. Cochrane highlighted a colourful assessment of “red”, “yellow” and “green” lights beside each strategic priority which clearly showed the magnitude of Canada Soccer’s workload.

The animated discussion then turned to the future. The two largest and most immediate goals will come as a surprise to nobody if they are paying any attention to Canadian soccer; the 2026 World Cup bid and the Canadian Premier League both hold massive potential to boost the Canadian soccer world into new heights. Bontis was clear that the CSA staff are taking every effort possible towards supporting the United bid. However, winning the bid is not a guaranteed certainty; a lot of work remains to be done in securing the hosting rights prior to FIFA’s decision in June. Bontis emphasized several critical milestones that remain including FIFA technical inspections in host cities and international campaigning to over 200 football federations around the world. The Morocco bid has some solid things going for it, particularly in the close proximity of the hosting stadiums presented. Politics can be a difficult thing, so it is important that we as fans continue to support the CSA and the United bid in their work to make this happen for us.

Bontis was very optimistic about the Canadian Premier League and has been for some time (see the link here for a video interview he did for his local hometown Hamilton pro

These issues aside, the CPL continues to develop and show promise. Establishing a brand new, top tier, coast-to-coast professional league is not an easy endeavour. While the momentum may seem slow from the outside, Bontis assured the audience that dozens of people have been working their hearts out for over a year to make this happen. Bontis revealed that additional teams will almost certainly be sanctioned at the next Annual Membership Meeting, which is scheduled for May 5, 2018 in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories (hopefully our own Guillermo Del Quarto can somehow find his way in!).

Another exciting project that Canada Soccer is targeting in the next five-year span is a national player registry. Having worked closely with several provincial and district associations directly, Cochrane described the technical challenges of implementing such a system in Canada. Bontis pointed out his disappointment in the delay of this particular project as it was part of the current strategic plan that ends in December of 2018. Large IT initiatives are extremely difficult to implement in any industry. A lot of work still needs to be done to develop this, but an effective tracking system for the many young players in Canada is absolutely needed for the growth of our game. Bontis promised that this would once again be a part of the next strategic plan. He believes this has the potential to be a real difference maker for our sport. The national registry will make it much easier to monitor talented players for the national program, create commercial opportunities with sponsors, track player transfers efficiently, automate registration renewal processes, and create an infrastructure to encourage solidarity payments to local youth clubs that are triggered when Canadian players are purchased by rich European clubs.

The registry connects to another goal that Bontis reiterated as essential for future growth: alternative revenue streams above and beyond the current model, which mostly relies on youth player registration fees and government grants. The newly announced (and uncreatively named) Canadian Soccer Business will definitely play a role in this (see link here for announcement). The objective for CSB is to significantly increase commercial opportunities through broadcasting rights, corporate sponsorship, and advertising deals. Bontis says that in order for soccer in Canada to catapult into the future, the CSA must grow far beyond its current size as a twenty-five million dollar enterprise.

All of these strategic goals hold optimism for the future, and there is reason to have faith in Bontis and his colleagues at the CSA to accomplish them. Bontis highlighted that the CSA established several BHAGs (big hairy audacious goals) many years ago that most Canadians scoffed at and felt were not reachable: an Olympic medal for our Women’s team; the growth to the aforementioned twenty-five million dollars in operating budget; one million players; putting together a Men’s World cup bid, and creating a new domestic professional league.

All of these goals have been met. Beyond the CSA itself, there seems to be a new energy in the Canadian soccer sphere. In attendance at the meeting were representatives from the Toronto, Hamilton, and Kitchener-Waterloo CPL supporter’s groups; all groups that did not exist five years ago. The Toronto FC supporter’s groups continue to grow and were there in numbers as well. This is while TFC faces the real possibility of advancing to the Concacaf Champions League final (simply unthinkable during the dog days of their history).

Club loyalties aside, all in attendance were behind their national team. It is our national team that unites us from coast to coast, and after the two-hour presentation was complete, I felt confident about our future. The CSA is in good hands, and so is Canadian soccer.

Photo Courtesy of Vijay Setlur

Clarifications provided by Nick Bontis

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Nathanael Martin Nathanael is a Political Theory MA graduate Not-For-Profit Professional who spends way too much of his time reading about, writing on, and watching the beautiful game. After playing soccer throughout childhood, his love was rekindled when Toronto FC gave him the opportunity to cheer for a local soccer team on the national stage. Since then, he has become passionate about Canadian soccer and the development of Canadian players through the Toronto Academy system and other branches of Canadian soccer.

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