Canada Soccer’s new Player-Development Program Championship will deliver a higher level of national competition for youth soccer players and organisations across the country. The inaugural 2024 edition will be played in Edmonton, Alberta from 14 to 18 August with 28 youth teams for boys and girls qualifying to the PDP U-17 Cup and PDP U-15 Cup.
In all, 50 matches will be played across the four divisions at the Bill Gilhespy Sports Complex, with the four championship matches played in succession on Sunday 18 August. The 28 participating teams will qualify from a pool of 155 youth teams competing in the U-17 and U-15 age groups through the BC Soccer Premier League, the Alberta Youth Soccer League, the Ontario Player-Development League, and the Québec Youth Soccer Premier League (Première Ligue de Soccer Juvénile du Québec).
Canada Soccer’s Player-Development Program Championship provides a terrific growth opportunity for Canada’s bright young players, both on and off the pitch. Canada Soccer’s Men’s and Women’s Youth National Teams staff will be on site to both watch the competition and present to participating players and coaches. These presentations will focus on the Youth National Teams player pathways, player profiles, playing philosophies, and training methodologies. The presentations will also offer an opportunity to players and coaches to interact and ask questions directly from Youth National Teams staff.
Across the competition, Canada Soccer will offer match analysis for both teams and individual players with the support of Sports AI, a company that helps football teams analyzing their performance and enhance their decision making. The match analysis will provide coaches and their staff with the opportunity to better support team and player development. It will also provide players with the opportunity to review their performances and even produce scouting packages drawn from their matches against national-level opposition. At the competition, clubs will be provided with on-site support from Sports AI to ensure that coaches and players can maximize the use of the data provided.
Through early July, 18 of the 28 youth teams have already qualified through their provincial competitions, including former national youth champions Burnaby FC, Calgary Foothills SC, South Surrey’s Coastal FC, Coquitlam Metro Ford SC, CS Saint-Laurent, Surrey United SC, and Unionville-Milliken SC.
Alongside the Canadian Championship for professional and semi-professional clubs, Canada Soccer delivers annual national amateur competitions in April (Futsal Canadian Championship), August (Player-Development Program Championship) and October (Toyota National Championships). Alberta Soccer will serve as the hosts and Local Organising Committee for the inaugural edition of Canada Soccer’s Player-Development Program Championship.
Canada Soccer’s Player-Development Program features a network of standards-based programs that represent high-level amateur youth soccer in Canada. Participating organisations, both clubs and academies, all meet the requirements for standards-based programming including recognition as an active National Youth Club Licensee.