Logo for League1 Ontario, the province's semi-professional soccer league. (BlackburnNews.com file photo)

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Young soccer players in Windsor-Essex could be finding new opportunities to play in Ontario’s new League1.

The Windsor Stars are leaving the Canadian Soccer League to join the new ten team semi-professional league.

“Philisophically it’s more aligned with what we’re trying to do you know, we’re focused on a community based format; we want kids to have opportunities to play,” says Vancho Cirovski, director of the Windsor Stars commenting on the league and the team’s focus of developing local talent. “It allows Canada to become more competitive down the road, we’re talking about a longer-term plan but, you have to start somewhere.”

The new league limits the number of international players allowed on the roster to three and requires teams to have eight local players under 23 years of age on the 18-man game-day roster with four needing to be in the starting lineup.

The Windsor Stars will be playing at the McHugh Complex by the WFCU Centre with the first home game targeted for June. The Ontario League1 is set to add a women’s division in 2015.