Examining the issues of youth development in Quebec and Canada
Even though Canada will always be considered a hockey nation, soccer is continuing to grow at an alarming pace. According to Stats Canada, soccer is the most played sport amongst children between the ages of five and 14-years-old. It has been for quite some time now.
The exposure of the game is arguably at the highest level it's ever been. With three Major League Soccer clubs, plenty more in the second and third divisions, a successful Women's National Team and a hopefully improving Men's side, soccer is ever present in our own backyard.
After successfully hosting the 2007 FIFA Men's U-20 World Cup, with notable players like Arturo Vidal, Alexis Sánchez, Gerard Piqué, Juan Mata, Edinson Cavani, Luis Suárez, Giovani Dos Santos, Rui Patrício, Fábio Coentrão, David Luiz, Marcelo, Alexandre Pato, Sergio Agüero and Ángel di María to name a few, the spotlight will once again be on Canada when it hosts the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.
With so much exposure and so many children playing the game, why are there so few players making through the Canadian soccer system?
One of the big problems lies within the structure currently in place at the moment. Although it is definitely not the only problem attributed to this dilemma, I think it is one of the most important ones.
Having been born and raised in Montreal, I've experienced youth soccer both as a player and as coach in Quebec. I will be examining the province's current structure run by the Quebec Soccer Federation (QSF).
After Ontario, Quebec is the second-highest province in terms of membership. There are around 200,000 members registered at the QSF. Lac St-Louis, the region which I've been a part of, leads the province in membership.
The current structure for children ranges starts at the age of five and goes until 18, and even older at many clubs. Children start off at a young age in a grassroots or house league program until more competitive levels are introduced at around the categories of U-8 and U-9. From then until the age of 18, players can play at the house league, A, AA and AAA levels. At the elite level, a player can not only represent their regional club, but also be selected for provincial teams.
The problem with the current structure is that there aren't many opportunities of making it to the highest level. Only a select amount of players will make it to the elite provincial level or a professional team.
Regardless of the age level, there are not enough teams when playing at the highest level. This leaves a large amount of players trying out for the few spots available on any given provincial or elite team.
To me, this is the problem with the current structure. The European model, where professional clubs run their own youth programs instead of provinces or regions, gives young players plenty of opportunities to become professionals. Even though a club may not be a top-flight team, there are professional teams everywhere, and I mean everywhere.
Take Portugal for example, the country I'm most familiar with. Portugal is a rather small country with a population of just over 10.5 million. Within the country, there are four tiers of professional leagues with the highest being the Portuguese Liga and Segunda Liga. After that, there's the third tier which consists of three leagues similar to Spain. Even lower, there's the fourth tier broken up into seven smaller leagues. That's a total of 12 leagues not including any district leagues that make up the fifth and sixth tiers.
At each club, regardless of division, a player can start at a young age and move up within the same club until they reach the senior team. Player development stays within the club. As players get older, they can try moving to better clubs playing at a higher level or division. Football in Europe mostly works in this way.
With the Montreal Impact being the only professional club in Quebec, aspiring professional footballers have one option when trying to reach their goal of playing professional locally. Like other professional clubs all over the world, the Impact Academy has youth squads, however only starting at U-12. Once players are around U-18, there's a bridge in order for players to progress to the U-21 team and ultimately the senior squad.
This is the only professional structure in the province. Players who are not playing for the Impact Academy are playing in their local clubs around the province. It is impossible to become a professional staying within the local club as there are no senior teams to progress to. Once players start reaching the categories of U-18 and U-21, there is nowhere to go. The highest level to possibly play at used to be the elite AAA level until recently.
Players serious about their development have few chances of becoming professionals staying in the province. Heading to outside countries would be the logical step, but this is a tough choice to make as the financial implications are high. A player leaving the country still has to try-out for a club, and as a result, is not guaranteed making a team. To make it tougher, most clubs operate by invite only. There's a big risk to take and naturally many won't do it for whatever the reason might be. Young players' dreams of becoming professionals are crushed and they just go back to playing at their local clubs. The older players get, the more they start letting go of the game.
There is hope however. In 2012, Quebec started its own semi-professional league called the Première ligue de soccer du Québec (PLSQ). Five clubs fielded their own semi-pro teams playing in what is considered the third tier of Quebec soccer.
This is a huge step in the right direction. Hopefully in a few years, when there are plenty more clubs fielding semi-professional teams, young players will have a chance to develop to a fairly high level within their own local clubs. There will now be senior semi-pro teams to aspire playing for, along with the pro MLS side. The youth soccer level of competition is slowly catching up to the other major football-dominant countries around the world.
As the semi-pro league develops, along with more improvements to the structure already in place, Canadian kids will finally have a chance to develop into professional footballers within their own country. Ultimately the idea is to have more kids deciding to keep pursuing the sport until they reach the highest level possible; instead of quitting once they get older and have nowhere to go.
The only thing missing now are resources for the Canadian Soccer Association. More educated coaches and better infrastructure will be required to turn Canada into a top football country. But of course, there needs to be money available for all of this.
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