A winning FC Vorkuta to air nationally on Canadian television

Soccer in Canada is better and bigger than most people realize. Despite player registrations in organized soccer exceeding hockey and many more than baseball, football and basketball, the beautiful game in Canada is overshadowed by the greater popularity of the mainstream sports. Canadian soccer needs help, more exposure to unveil the many young players across the country showing promise of having the skills and talent to be on the edges of a high level game anywhere in the world.

That’s the opinion of Igor Demitchev after attending hundreds of matches in southern Ontario following his arrival as an immigrant from his native Russia. Demitchev, a Toronto lawyer and principal sponsor of the highly successful FC Vorkuta, will air his views nationally in a documentary on the beIN Sports channel to be released soon.    .

Demitchev with Samad Kadirov, another Russian immigrant, launched the FC Vorkuta team in a Toronto area indoor league in 2008, a venture that led to the outdoor amateur game in the Thornhill Soccer League in 2009 and several seasons in the Richmond Hill Soccer League to win league and championship titles along the way. Then came the big leap into the professional Canadian Soccer League as an expansion team in 2017.

Professional players from Europe were signed to strengthen the club (with major assistance of head coach Denys Yanchuk ) for entry into Canada’s top league of the day and the Vorkuta team, named after a community on the edge of the Arctic Circle in northern Russia, was an immediate hit. They won the first division league title in the inaugural season, followed by a  CSL championship victory in 2018 to continue unabated a winning way and winning attitude that attracted wide attention in the Canadian soccer community.

The flow of players arriving from mostly eastern and central Europe to Vorkuta and other teams in the CSL, all requiring work permits or visas, is subject to reciprocal provisions under the Refugee, Citizenship and Immigration Canada guidelines and is intended to result in a neutral labour market impact with Canadian players having similar reciprocal opportunities abroad.  The clause is intended to maintain a reasonable balance between foreign players entering Canada to play for Canadian teams and the number of Canadian players being received by other countries.

While some considered the federal government’s recent close scrutiny of the reciprocity requirement a threat to the ease with which overseas players can be transferred to Canadian clubs, Demitchev considered it an opportunity. The government emphasis means more young promising Canadian players will be accepted abroad for trials with high level clubs, he reasoned. Vorkuta became the first team in the CSL to initiate an exchange program with overseas clubs. The encouragement of team visits and even programs to fight racism in soccer, were included in the deal with multiple clubs in Europe.

Such partnerships are encouraged by the ministry and there has been some early success with the transfer of Fadi Salback, the university student from Bowmanville Ontario, spotted in 2019 by an always searching FC Vorkuta. Salback is now playing for FC Podillaya Khmelnytskyi in the Ukrainian Second Division and the Israeli-born goal scorer was described in local media recently as a fan favourite.

“And there are many more on the way as we develop relationships with clubs overseas,” said Demitchev, who grew up in the remote Vorkuta community and who in recent times while in Canada has identified these exchanges as one opportunity to accelerate and do more for the development of Canada’s promising young players, a prerequisite if Canada is to be more competitive on the world stage.

 Today, FC Vorkuta is a diverse club of many nationalities with a dozen Canadian league titles and championships since being formed in 2008. Date for release of the FC Vorkuta documentary, which is produced by Alex Bastyovanszky, will be announced soon to be shown on the beIN Sports Canada network. BeIn Sports is known for its comprehensive sports coverage including gaining the rights to many of the high level soccer events including UEFA club tournaments, top European leagues and South American competitions.

 

 

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CSL PLAYERS SEE ACTION ABROAD

PICTURE: Former FC Vorkuta player Fadi Salback (left) during recent game in Ukraine.  Photo: New Canadian Media

While there is a new season upcoming in the Canadian Soccer League with a kickoff expected  during the last two weeks of May,  there is still considerable activity taking place overseas where several CSL players have been in action during the winter months.

Fadi Salback continues to attract attention in Ukraine where the former FC Vorkuta forward has played 10 games with six goals for FC Podillava Khmelnytskyi, a performance that brings increasing media coverage while the  FC Vorkuta find from Bowmanville, Ontario is the only foreign player on the Ukrainian team’s line-up. A front page story in New Canadian Media, a publication subtitled The Pulse of Immigrant Canada, details Fadi Salback coming to Canada with his family from Haifa, Israel, his success in the CSL with FC Vorkuta and the club’s part ‘in making the connection’ with FC Podillava Khmelnytskyi, bringing to reality and fulfilling as the publication says those early years of ‘dreaming of one day becoming a professional player’.

FC Podillava Khmelnytskyi has won four of its last five games for third spot of 13 teams in the Ukrainian league and bidding for the league title, and Salback has played an important part in this.

There’s not a single day that he wakes up and doesn’t want to play, Salback told New Canadian Media over a Zoom interview. 

Clayton Brown, a promising midfielder, is another Canadian that FC Vorkuta has placed in Ukraine for trials. He was impressive when scoring a hat-trick there in a game on March 6.

Brown, former player at the University of Wisconsin and a junior at Florida Atlantic University, was attached to the Thornhill Soccer Club being transferred to Vorkuta when the CSL club recommended the overseas opportunity. A Ukraine signing is expected.

 Meanwhile, goalkeeper John Trye who signed for Serbian White Eagles from Scarborough recently and was selected by Sierra Leone to join that country’s national team in Africa, has not seen action yet since the African Nations Cup qualifier with Benin scheduled for Tuesday, April 6, was postponed after five Benin players were tested positive of COVID-19. No Sierra Leone players are affected.

CSL PLAYERS SEE ACTION ABROAD

PICTURE: Fadi Salback now recognized by town’s residents as a celebrity. IM PR INC EIN PRESSWIRE

Fadi Salback, the university student from Bowmanville Ontario, spotted in 2019 by FC Vorkuta during a winter off-season indoor soccer game and signed for a trial in the Canadian Soccer League team’s reserve squad to score four goals in his opening game, has caught the eye of the European media and the fans while playing for FC Podillava Khmelnytskyi in the Ukrainian Second Division.

Salback, 22, with promising credentials prior to that indoor match, was promptly moved to the Vorkuta first division squad where more goals followed in quick succession.

Salback’s earlier signs of talent came when the Israeli-born striker was selected for Ontario’s Provincial U-16 team before entering Ontario Tech University at Oshawa, Ont. to study software engineering. Selected also for the university team, he scored a record 16 goals in his first season, was named the all-Canadian Rookie of the Year and named an east division first team all-star.

Salback was signed by the Ukrainian club following a two-week trial late summer and has now caught the eye of the European media after scoring five goals in his first six games since Ukraine kicked off a new season in October. One news report explains that when Salback walks through Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine, he’s recognized by the town’s residents as a celebrity.

Vorkuta GM Samad Kadirov considered Salback to be an exceptional player when he was first seen by Kadirov, Vorkuta FC owner Igor Demitchev, and Steve Kokkoros of the Thornhill Soccer Club just north of Toronto during that indoor winter season match. “ We are pleased to sign him and he’s now considered one of our top assets with real promise for the future,” said Kadirov at the time.

Demitchev takes it a step further and believes the local youth talent has contributed greatly to the success of his club since its launch at the amateur level in Toronto in 2008. The team, formed by Demitchev and Kadirov, both immigrants from Russia, stormed into professional soccer as an expansion team in the Canadian Soccer League in 2017. With high level players from Eastern Europe and local players with promise, FC Vorkuta has attracted a lot of attention while winning two Canadian Soccer League championships and three league titles in just four seasons. FC Vorkuta is today one of the top teams in Canadian soccer.

Demitchev, a Toronto lawyer, considers his club has been successful while partnering the Thornhill Soccer Club to select local youth for competition in the tough CSL, then continuing with a process that provides every opportunity for further development and eventually the all-important recognition of a player destined for an even higher game elsewhere. “Fadi Salback is living proof of what can happen,” he says.

Soccer in Canada has grown in leaps and bounds during the past 30 years with now more player registrations than hockey and more than baseball, football and basketball combined and there are signs that more high level players are emerging. Demitchev considers that aligning his club with youth soccer helps to make young special players more visible, and they are surrounded by coaching skills from abroad, all of which contributes to furthering the Canadian game.

Fadi Salback’s new-found success follows a number of CSL players that have made the grade at a higher level, including Jonathan Osorio from SC Toronto to Toronto FC, Paul Munster from London City to Slavia Prague and a number of others stretching back to Atiba Hutchinson who played briefly for York Region Shooters before moving on to play for the Toronto Lynx and five teams in Europe before joining his present club, Besiktas of Turkey.

Igor Demitchev and FC Vorkuta also believe the increased popularity of the game in Canada is about to pay dividends as more players surface for the highest level professional ranks in Europe and other parts of the world. Transfer fees are expected to exceed the recent Canadian record $46.5 million paid by French club Lille for Jonathan David of Ottawa. That fee was quick to eclipse the earlier fee of more than $20 million, which included bonuses yet to be earned, for the transfer to Bayern Munich of Alphonso Davies from the Vancouver Whitecaps of Major League Soccer.

In the meantime, the progress of Fadi Salback is of interest from a number of points of view, not the least of which is the rarity of a Canadian being signed in a country with limited opportunities for the abundance of local soccer talent attempting to enter a relatively small professional football structure.

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SCARBOROUGH ANNOUNCES THE IMPRESSIVE MIRKO MEDIC NEW HEAD COACH

PICTURE: Mirko Medic (right), an outstanding defender in Europe before joining Serbian White Eagles to be part of the memorable Dragoslav Sekularac team of 2006, is the new head coach announced by Scarborough SC GM Kiril Dimitrov.

When Scarborough SC lost its third championship final in four years following a 2-1 defeat at Racco Park in Vaughan just north of Toronto on October  17 at the end of last season, a loss that came after the Toronto east side team were on top of opposition Vorkuta and led 1-0 into the second half, it became clear that changes would come to continue the club’s incremental improvements strategy that started shortly after  professional soccer returned to Scarborough as an expansion team in the Canadian Soccer League  in 2015.

GM Kiril Dimitrov, given complete control to develop a championship-winning side by owner Angel Belchev during those early days, had a strong professional career in Europe and knew the CSL well following a period with Serbian White Eagles and SC Waterloo. The year-by-year strengthening of the Scarborough franchise has since paid big dividends with a First Division championship in 2020, a CSL Championship title in 2019 and CSL Championship finalists in 2017, 2018 and 2020.

Dimitrov has now announced one of the club’s more significant additions with the signing of the impressive Mirko Medic of Serbian White Eagles as Scarborough’s head coach.

Medic is a seasoned professional following several years as a player in the former Yugoslavia with Buducnost Valjevo and FK Zeleznicar before signing in 2001 with First Division side FK Miadost Lucani of Serbia. A standout defender, Medic arrived in Canada in 2006 to sign for a CSL expansion Serbian White Eagles team to be coached by one of Europe’s earlier greats Dragoslav Sekularic. Medic was an immediate success and was selected during that year to the CSL All Star team for a match against visiting Clyde FC of the Scottish First Division. Medic was a member of a successful Serbian White Eagles side that won the International Division of the CSL and the championship winning Serbian White Eagles team of 2008. In 2009 he was named the Canadian Soccer League’s Defender of the Year and the following year was in the Toronto FC side at the BMO Field against visiting Bolton Wanderers of England.

Medic was transferred to the CSL’s Brampton City, returned to Serbian White Eagles the following year and was assigned coaching and managerial positions.

“We are very pleased Mirko Medic has chosen to join our club where he will be in complete charge of the team.“ said Scarborough owner and GM Kiril Dimitrov.  “Mirko has a first class reputation as a winner and Scarborough SC and the players will benefit. We also expect Mirko will identify players available in Europe and we will continue to provide opportunities for local players as well,” he added.

The CSL expects to play a five-month full season in 2021, setting the kickoff date mid-May  through to the end of October.

 

 

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SCARBOROUGH ANNOUNCES THE IMPRESSIVE MIRKO MEDIC NEW HEAD COACH

PICTURE: Mirko Medic (right), an outstanding defender in Europe before joining Serbian White Eagles to be part of the memorable Dragoslav Sekularac team of 2006, is the new head coach announced by Scarborough SC GM Kiril Dimitrov.

When Scarborough SC lost its third championship final in four years following a 2-1 defeat at Racco Park in Vaughan just north of Toronto on October  17 at the end of last season, a loss that came after the Toronto east side team were on top of opposition Vorkuta and led 1-0 into the second half, it became clear that changes would come to continue the club’s incremental improvements strategy that started shortly after  professional soccer returned to Scarborough as an expansion team in the Canadian Soccer League  in 2015.

GM Kiril Dimitrov, given complete control to develop a championship-winning side by owner Angel Belchev during those early days, had a strong professional career in Europe and knew the CSL well following a period with Serbian White Eagles and SC Waterloo. The year-by-year strengthening of the Scarborough franchise has since paid big dividends with a First Division championship in 2020, a CSL Championship title in 2019 and CSL Championship finalists in 2017, 2018 and 2020.

Dimitrov has now announced one of the club’s more significant additions with the signing of the impressive Mirko Medic of Serbian White Eagles as Scarborough’s head coach.

Medic is a seasoned professional following several years as a player in the former Yugoslavia with Buducnost Valjevo and FK Zeleznicar before signing in 2001 with First Division side FK Miadost Lucani of Serbia. A standout defender, Medic arrived in Canada in 2006 to sign for a CSL expansion Serbian White Eagles team to be coached by one of Europe’s earlier greats Dragoslav Sekularic. Medic was an immediate success and was selected during that year to the CSL All Star team for a match against visiting Clyde FC of the Scottish First Division. Medic was a member of a successful Serbian White Eagles side that won the International Division of the CSL and the championship winning Serbian White Eagles team of 2008. In 2009 he was named the Canadian Soccer League’s Defender of the Year and the following year was in the Toronto FC side at the BMO Field against visiting Bolton Wanderers of England.

Medic was transferred to the CSL’s Brampton City, returned to Serbian White Eagles the following year and was assigned coaching and managerial positions.

“We are very pleased Mirko Medic has chosen to join our club where he will be in complete charge of the team.“ said Scarborough owner and GM Kiril Dimitrov.  “Mirko has a first class reputation as a winner and Scarborough SC and the players will benefit. We also expect Mirko will identify players available in Europe and we will continue to provide opportunities for local players as well,” he added.

The CSL expects to play a five-month full season in 2021, setting the kickoff date mid-May  through to the end of October.

 

 

CSL TEAMS UPBEAT IN APPROACH TO NEW SEASON

PICTURE: Sierra Leone international goalkeeper John Trye (right) signs with Serbian White Eagles president Dragan (Doug) Bakoc before leaving on February 7 to join the West African team in training for an upcoming World Cup qualifier.

Despite the uncertainty of scheduling matches for the upcoming season due to the prevailing government regulations during the pandemic, team owners in the Canadian Soccer League are upbeat in their approach to the upcoming 2021 campaign. New signings, transfers, players called up by their national teams, a leading team is about to announce a new coach, are all part of the activity with three months to go to a mid-May kick-off-time, and however tentative that may be there is cautious optimism that a full season will be played in 2021.

Goalkeeper John Trye, who has played a major part in the success of Scarborough SC since joining that club in 2016, is newly signed by Serbian White Eagles just weeks after being called up by his Sierra Leone national team preparing for World Cup qualifiers. Trye,35, was first invited to the West African country’s national team in 2011 and last played in 2014, losing 3-1 to Congo in a Group D qualifier for the African Cup of Nations.

Trye’s professional career started in 2002 with FC Kallon, one of the top clubs in Sierra Leone’s National Premier League, then in 2007 with Alianza of San Salvador in El Salvador. In 2011 the 6ft 2in. Trye signed with Northern Virginia Royals of the U.S Premier Development League, then ASA Charge of the U.S.National Premier League before signing for Scarborough.

Fadi Salback continues to impress with Ukrainian club FC Podillya Khmelnytskyi  where the former Vorkuta FC forward is listed as the leading scorer at the half-way mark in the season. There is now interest by the European club in another Vorkuta player, Jon Michael Perkins, a defender, sometimes midfielder. Perkins, 23, born in Kingston, Jamaica and now living in Bowmanville, Ontario, was a regular with the soccer team at St. Bonaventure University in New York State for four years before joining the CSL club.. Perkins has been listed twice in the U-17 and U-20 Jamaican National Team player pool.

Vorkuta’s management considers that following the explosion of youth registrations in Canadian soccer some years ago, following which the game became the most played team sport in the country, there are now many young talented players ready to take the first step into high level football if given the opportunity.

Canadian players in other countries has a beneficial effect with the federal government’s reciprocity policy which requires some reasonable balance of player movement between countries if they are to allow foreign players into Canada.

“ FC Vorkuta is proud to play a strong and constructive role in developing young Canadian soccer talent into future international soccer stars and the club’s approach to reciprocity between the Canadian club and clubs in Ukraine is some indication that there can now be an explosion of Canadian soccer talent being recognized internationally,” said FC Vorkuta owner Igor Demitchev.

GM Kiril Dimitrov of Scarborough has indicated an announcement will be made soon of a new coach in good time for the approach to the new season.

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