The academy is beginning to pay off for CF Montreal, who have made a youthful move to their squad this season. This also results in a larger number of Quebec players, more than we had previously seen in Major League Soccer (MLS).
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Against Austin last Saturday, the Bleu-Blanc Noir set a franchise record by starting four club-trained players. Goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois and midfielders Mathieu Choinière, Sean Rea and Nathan Saliba all played on the pitch at Q2 Stadium.
The young veteran Samuel Piette was also in the starting XI, followed by Rida Zouhir in the second half.
With Zachary Brault-Guillard, James Pantemis and Jules-Anthony Vilsaint, who has yet to play this season, nine Quebecers will wear the CF Montreal shirt in 2023. It would be another record since they included more than one in MLS a decade ago.
Eight Belle Province representatives received minutes in 2021 and 2020, a peak for the club prior to this year. We especially remember Zorhan Bassong, Clément Bayiha, Balou Tabla, Anthony Jackson-Hamel and Karifa Yao in recent years.
Obviously, the development of the academy weighed on the scales. Only four Quebecers played for Impact in 2012 and 2013: Patrice Bernier, Karl W. Ouimette, Maxim Tissot and Eduardo Sebrango. For comparison: six Italians played in Montreal in those two years.
By 2023, Quebec players and the few Canadians outside of Quebec will make up the majority of the workforce. CF Montreal only uses three of its seven internationals, excluding Rudy Camacho, Romell Quioto, Lassi Lappalainen, Victor Wanyama and Ahmed Hamdy, among others. Sunusi Ibrahim, Chinonso Offor and Robert Thorkelsson are thus considered the team’s foreign players.
The number of Quebecers who have played for Montreal each year since arriving in MLS
- 2023: 8th
- 2022: 7th
- 2021: 8th
- 2020: 8th
- 2019: 7th
- 2018: 5th
- 2017: 8th
- 2016: 5th
- 2015: 5th
- 2014: 5*
- 2013: 3*
- 2012: 3rd
*Defender Wandrille Lefèvre, born in France, obtained Canadian citizenship in 2015. Prior to that, he was not considered Quebecois for this text.