HEALEY: A deep dive into the untapped talent pool of Québec’s soccer scene | OS CREATOR SPOTLIGHT
If footballers are paid their weight in gold these days, Québec may just be the world's biggest untapped gold mine... and if this is to be considered a golden age of sorts for Canadian soccer, la belle province also has the potential to become Canada's crown jewel.
Be it the Canadian men's or women's national teams, managers have been tapping into Québec's soccer talent with growing frequency: Players like Gabrielle Carle, Vanessa Gilles and Evelyne Viens have all played important roles for Bev Priestman's side in recent years, while Mauro Biello's squad against Trinidad and Tobago in March had a distinct CF Montréal flavour with Samuel Piette, Mathieu Chonière and Jonathan Sirois all getting call ups.
There's no question the talent is there: Developing it, though? That's a complex problem that Soccer Québec and others on the footy frontlines are working to maneuver through; the province's soccer pyramid still needs some key blocks before they can truly hit full stride. Fortunately, one of the biggest solutions is also fairly straightforward, according to Philippe Bernard – the interim general manager for Soccer Québec: Create more professional opportunities for athletes in the province.
"To fill out the pyramid, we need more professional clubs for both the men's and women's game to give these kids something to dream about," Bernard told OneSoccer. "The fact that there's not enough opportunities for young players to go further is our biggest barrier."
Bernard explained that while football is on the rise in Québec, it will take investment in both clubs and facilities for the province to fully reach its potential. The real question is who will fill those gaps – and how many players, who might have had the talent to play professionally, have slipped through the cracks waiting for those solutions to fall into place in one of the greatest untapped talent pools in North America?
And, more concerningly... how many more could, too?
Hard work and good fortune, in equal measure
Jonathan Sirois is the first to admit he's living the dream.
Born in LaSalle but raised in Saint-Hubert along Montréal's south shore, Sirois is a classic example of a local kid who made it big.
At 22-years old, he's CF Montréal's starting keeper and although he hasn't earned a cap, he was with the Canadian men's national team as recently as March. Add in the fact that he's accomplished all of this while playing in his home province, and you start to understand how fortunate he feels to have made it – he's one of the lucky few.
"This club is my heart," he told OneSoccer. "It's the club I've always supported. To be here today, to be the starter? It's an honour."
Although only young, Sirois has been piling up honours for quite a few years now. He impressed during a two year loan with Valour FC in the CPL, earning the nod as goalkeeper of the year in 2021. Then, back in Montréal, he won the starter job and subsequently was named the club's defensive player of the year. The call up ahead of Canada's match against Trinidad and Tobago could be considered the icing on the cake.
"It was a moment of pure joy. I'm someone who doesn't like to dream too much. When I signed my professional contract five years ago, if you had asked me if I'd be called up to the national team, I probably wouldn't have believed you," he said.
Jonathan Sirois in training with CF Montréal. Photo courtesy: CF Montréal / Kosta Kounadis.
In total, Sirois spent a week with the national team, an experience he said is serving as further motivation as he continues to impress with CF Montréal. Given he was playing in the CPL less than two years ago, his rise has been meteoric.
But he's also cognizant that not everybody has had the same opportunities he's had given he's been part of CF Montréal's system since 2015. Many athletes don't have the luxury of staying home while they pursue their passion.
"I'll be honest, when I was at the academy, I didn't think I was standing out at all as one of the best players in my generation. I was simply another kid with good potential who was hardworking but nothing more," he said.
Being close to home is something he's never taken for granted.
"I think it helped me a lot being close to friends and family. Without the support of my family on an everyday basis, it would have been much more difficult," he said of his journey.
When asked about his childhood, Sirois paints the picture of a prototypical Canadian upbringing; he comes from a sporting family, playing hockey during the winter months and football in the spring and summer. As a young kid, he worked his way across the pitch from forward until he landed on being a goalkeeper. Eventually, he gave up hockey for soccer.
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Playing in his home province offered several advantages. Sirois explained he had the privilege of joining CF Montréal's academy with his childhood friend Lundon Durand Browne, a compatriot to share the long bus rides and early morning training sessions with. Together, they steadily moved through the academy, but with only one professional club in the province, there are only so many spots at the top.
Today, Durand Browne plays in the province's semi-professional in Ligue 1 Québec.
But that doesn't mean Browne, or countless others like him, aren't good enough to make the jump — it's about opportunity (and, of course, a little bit of luck).
"Having another (professional) team here in Québec, with the quality and talent we have in this region, would be immense," Sirois offered. "I joke about it with the guys all the time but I feel Québec is starting to produce very, very good talents and having another team here would help them grow and shine light on them.
"We've got a good group of guys from (the province) and it shows all of Canada, but also others in Québec, listen, you do have a chance."
Carving out your own path to the pros
While Sirois had a natural, albeit slim, pathway to tread along on his journey to becoming a professional footballer, not everyone is afforded the same. Take, for instance, the path walked – or, perhaps more appropriate, carved out – by a footballer like Gabrielle Carle.
Across the globe, women's football has often been relegated to the sidelines, and only until recently have widespread opportunities emerged for prospective talents. So in many ways, Gabrielle Carle found a way to realize her dreams at a time when the pipeline was basically, well... non-existent.
At 25-years old, she has achieved her childhood goals of both playing for the Canadian women's national team — including a stop to win a gold medal at the 2021 Summer Olympics in Tokyo — and earning a living playing the game she loves.
Born just outside of Québec City to football-loving parents, Carle remembers the moment her goals became crystal-clear.
"The first time I watched women play on TV was the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup. I was eight and that's when I realized, 'Oh, you can play soccer for your country as a woman,'" she told OneSoccer. "I hadn't seen (the women's game) represented on TV before. I remember telling my Dad that's what I wanted to do."
Carle was coached by her dad until she was 16, always eager for the chance to get in extra reps or to go watch CF Montréal. Although by her own admission not the most skilled footballer as a kid, her passion and ambition drove her to get better bit by bit. Looking back, she said she thrived in a household and culture focused on competition.
"I basked in that soccer environment," she said. "Soccer was my life growing up in a great way."
Gabrielle Carle in action for CanWNT. Photo courtesy: Canada Soccer / Daniela Porcelli – 6 September 2022 - Sydney, AUS.
However, due to the nature of the system, Carle had to leave home at 13 to pursue her goals, settling in Montréal with a billet family to pursue the next steps with the provincial team. By the time she finished high school, she had committed to playing for Florida State University.
And while most would have been leaving home for the first time at 18 to go to school, Carle felt she had been prepared by the path she had committed to as a child.
"I feel like from a young age I was rooted out of my little family life. For me, taking the step to go to the United States and play in the NCAA was obvious. I had already done something similar, maybe even harder, because I was so young," she explained.
From there, Carle helped win two NCAA championships before making the jump to the pro ranks, first in Sweden and then back in the United States with the Spirit. Her international career has been even more impressive with three CONCACAF medals, a gold medal at the Olympics and countless performances between the senior and youth national teams. In total, Carle has 44 senior caps for Canada.
Winning the gold medal felt like a watershed moment for her as both a Canadian and Québecker.
"It was a great moment and I feel like there's this Canadian pride but also this Québec pride," said Carle. "We have a feeling of belonging through that team."
Carle added she wouldn't change a thing about her journey but hopes with an increased interest in football and the promise of a Canadian professional women's league on the horizon, Québeckers will be able to continue to show their merits through a more linear path.
"There's so much talent in Québec and I feel like recently we're really getting that talent into the national team and professional leagues."
A football dream can take you worlds away
CF Montréal does not have an MLS Next Pro squad, meaning players either have to make the jump to the first team or risk being cut loose.
Some Québec-born players — as recent as MLS Cup winner Mohamed Farsi as a prime example — find a way to make it and beat the odds by forging a path of their own. Most find themselves not ready for the top of the pyramid quite yet, but too good for Ligue 1 Québec. At this time, there's no middle-ground close to home. Bags must be packed and 'au revoir's, exchanged, to pursue this dream, when opportunity knocks from places like the Canadian Premier League. It's why Farsi found himself in Calgary, Alberta before landing in Columbus, Ohio.
Many others from Québec have done the same, from coast to coast.
"(Farsi) found a way there," Sirois, who himself found opportunities at Valour FC in Winnipeg, offered. "Woobens Pacius, Zachary Fernandez and Cédric Toussaint is another one. The (CPL) is full of those guys who were in an MLS academy but didn't make the cut to the first team. By having another club here, they'd love for sure to play in the same province."
Mo Farsi with award for 2020 Best U21 Canadian Player of the Year. Photo courtesy: Cavalry FC / CPL, via Audrey Magny.
Other clubs in the CPL have taken advantage of the gap between CF Montréal's first team and academy, actively scouting a pipeline of talent that often needs a little extra time to season. It's no coincidence that some of the best players in the CPL have come straight from the halls of the province's only MLS club.
"They've got an amateur U-23 group so you get a lot of these players who, at the age of 21 or 22, aren't going to break into the first team for CF Montréal," explained Halifax Wanderers sporting director Matt Fegan to The Wanderers Notebook last summer, adding the club has a good track record of recruiting players from Québec.
Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé is one player recruited by Fegan, plying his craft far from home. Although he played matches for CF Montréal, the bulk of his career has been spent away with stops in Europe, the United States and Canada across a smattering of leagues. He's suited up in the CPL the last number of years and has national team caps to his name.
Looking back on his career, Gagnon-Laparé said he's at an interesting point where it'd be nice to have the opportunity to play in the CPL in front of friends and family with the Wanderers. A club in Québec would make that dream possible.
"I'm getting to an age where there's more time that's passed in my professional career than is in front of me; I see that as a reality," he said.
But it's also something he thinks could help the next generation of Québec-born players as they navigate between pursuing their dreams and being close to loved ones. In addition to the distance, the language barrier can be difficult for players looking to make the move. Having played the bulk of his career outside of Québec, Gagnon-Laparé is acutely aware of the importance of having French coverage, allowing him to show pieces or news to his family in their native language.
"I have family and friends who don't speak English very well and if you want to share coverage that's been written on your team or yourself, it's great when you can send it and know they can read it," he explained. "Also, just being able to have a discussion with a news reporter in your own language is fun. It doesn't happen very often but I feel like I can share stuff in more detail."
You can catch Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé on Ep. 2 of our French-language YouTube show, Le Bouclier Canadien.
Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé in action for HFX Wanderers FC. Photo courtesy: Canadian Premier League / Beau Chevalier.
At 29, Gagnon-Laparé brings a veteran presence to a Wanderers squad which features several players from Québec, including Fernandez, Kareem Sow, Tomas Giraldo and Wesley Timoteo. Most left home young to pursue their dreams or played semi-professionally before making the move to Halifax.
But before the CPL, many players from Québec didn't have an avenue to play domestically.
"There's a lot of players that I think of from Québec who have stopped playing because it was a bit more complicated for them to completely leave their lives and go to a different province or different country before the CPL was born," said Gagnon-Laparé, adding it could bridge the gap between Ligue 1 Québec and MLS.
"In terms of provinces, when you look at Ontario, B.C. and Québec, you'd say Québec is in the top three for players that are coming out by quality."
For her part, Carle believes a women's club through Project 8 would provide a clear pathway to the professional game in Québec, something she didn't necessarily have.
"Growing up, I made it up as I went. I didn't know how I was going to get to the national team, I just knew I wanted to get there. And I didn't know how I was going to become a professional player but I just wanted to do it. There wasn't a straight path," she said.
"Having a professional league for all of Canada would be fantastic. For young players, they'll know where they can go."
The sport of choice in la belle province
Football as a participant sport remains alive and well in Québec, even if the pathway to the pros is limited.
According to Soccer Québec, the governing body for youth football and Ligue 1 Québec, the sport continues to see high levels of participation across the board, with over 170,000 people registering for involvement in their programs in 2023 alone.
Bernard, who took over as interim general manager in February, said this is a trend that's here to stay.
"Our membership is growing and that's the number one indicator of health, be it our youth or senior programs. The fact that the World Cup is coming to Canada, the fact that our national teams — be it the male or female — are strong bodes well for soccer in the province," he said.
Football has always been popular in Québec and has emerged as the youth sport of choice for parents across the province. Both boys (97,000) and girls (42,000) football registrations continue to surpass that of hockey. According to Hockey Canada's annual report, 69,000 boys and 6,840 girls played youth hockey in the 2022-23 season.
Approximately 31,200 men and women played in Ligue 1 Québec last year.
2023 Soccer Québec registration numbers. Boys 4-17: 97,000. Girls 4-17: 42,000. Senior M 18+: 20,000. Senior F 18+: 11,200.
Looking at the numbers, Bernard explained the only real dip in registrations over the last 10-years has been as a result of COVID. Due to restrictions, registrations fell to 100,000 in 2020 and it took some time for the numbers to return to pre-pandemic figures.
The 170,000 registrations in 2023 represent a return to the norm.
"Since 2019, these numbers represent a high water mark," said Bernard.
In addition to seeking out a new general manager, Bernard added recent changes to the province's semi-professional league have been important in organising the province's football pyramid. Last year, the league underwent a branding change from Première ligue de soccer du Québec (PLSQ) to Ligue 1 Québec.
Elom Defly, the marketing director for Soccer Québec, said it was important to bring the province in line with the rest of Canada in terms of organization and branding.
"The main idea is to build a national identity through division three soccer in Canada. You couldn't have the PLSQ doing its thing and the rest of Canada doing something else. It's important that the different division three leagues work together under a similar leadership and parameters," he said.
Defly noted nothing has changed in terms of how Soccer Québec operates the league but stressed the importance of offering a pathway for men and women to play the game they love at a high level. In 2024, the league consists of 12 clubs in the women's division and 11 in the men's.
When asked about the future of Ligue 1 Québec and potential expansion given rising interest, Defly stressed the importance of creating sustainable, long-term growth.
"We obviously want Ligue 1 Quebec to continue to grow but we want it to grow well," he said. "We want sustainable growth. We don't want to wake up tomorrow with 50 clubs and we can't manage them. It's about doing things the right way."
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For his part, Bernard said he's pleased by the progress the province is making but knows they have the talent that can play at the next level. The question is: where?
"There's athletes here who could, without a doubt, flourish at the CPL level. And for the women's game, we've got athletes who can play in Project 8," he said.
At the time of this article, there's currently no club announced in Québec for Project 8, the women's professional football league set to launch in 2025. A CPL club also remains elusive at this time although CPL commissioner Mark Noonan reiterated the importance of expanding to the province once there are the right conditions for success in place – chiefly, and as is the case among all expansion for the league, in venues.
Bernard said money and infrastructure, specifically football-first stadiums, remain the biggest obstacles to expansion.
"We have very, very few," he said, of potential stadiums and venue options.
Although there's still a long way to go, both Defly and Bernard noted they were proud of Québec's place in Canada's football hierarchy.
"We're happy to have more and more Québec-born players on the national teams," said Defly. "There's also futsal, which is in CONCACAF, and Canada is currently playing Costa Rica and there's nine Québec-born players on the roster. Québec is the only province in Canada with a semi-pro futsal league. It's little things like this which makes us proud of how Quebec is represented nationally and internationally and it shows how hard everyone is working at clubs across Québec. We're incredibly proud."
Supporting Québec's soccer pyramid
Although football has been around for well over a century, Canada's programs feel nascent — and on the cusp of something special — but still without clear structure. Québec is no exception.
However, that doesn't mean the appetite isn't there from a supporters' perspective.
Former Canadian women's national team player and pundit Amy Walsh said she sees a fanbase hungry for more football.
"Football in Quebec has a pretty ardent and passionate fan base. Unfortunately, it's not always fed in the best way," she told OneSoccer.
Specifically, Walsh pointed out the trials and tribulations of professional football in the region, be it due to different leagues, ownership groups or infrastructure. The result is a pyramid always under construction but never quite built with CF Montréal at the top and not enough jobs for the province's talent pool.
A big step in bridging the gap on the women's side would be the announcement of a Project 8 club. Walsh said without that pathway, talented players will continue to be forced out of the game before their time.
"A lot of our best and our brightest talents are forced to ply their trade elsewhere because Canada doesn't have a league for them," she explained. "We're lacking the infrastructure for proper development and it's really sad because the talent is there."
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She added that Canadian women are often forced to retire after university unless they're fortunate enough to have a passport to a country with a women's league or find their own way. Most aren't so lucky.
Speaking about the growing interest in women's sports, Carle said she feels the time is right to bring a professional women's club to Québec. The success of the PWHL, which recently set a record for attendance for women's hockey on April 20 in Montréal with 21,105 in attendance, can serve as a banner moment.
"That says a lot about how Canadians view women's sport and it's very promising for Project 8 as it's going to launch soon. Generally, in the world, I think there's a step up in women's sports and how the public responds to it," said Carle.
She added she's seeing a similar trend in Washington. Last year, she said, the Spirit drew roughly 10,000 for a big match but has already recorded over 15,000 in attendance for the first few contests of their season. Carle hopes the trend bodes well for Project 8 in 2025.
"It just feels like it's going to get better," she said.
Walsh has been around the game a long time in both Canada and Québec. In many ways, football is at a pivotal point in the country as it nears the 2026 FIFA World Cup which will see matches played on home soil. Walsh said it's important to find a way to create more clubs to create pathways for players while covering them — both in English and in French — to ensure the health of the system.
"Yes, you need the franchises to be founded but you also need to nourish that ecosystem properly. Can you do both of them concurrently? I think you absolutely can and have to. We're at a tipping point in Canada," she said.
Quentin Parisis, a journalist providing French coverage of the CPL, noted Québec is in an important phase of its footballing journey: how things develop in the next few years, especially when it comes to expansion, are critical.
The ingredients for success, he added, are there.
"Football is the most played sport in the province, much more than hockey, and others," said Parisis. "Evidently, there's a good population base here, be it Québec, Montréal or smaller cities like Trois-Rivières or Sherbrooke. It just needs to develop but the interest is there."
Parisis said increasing French coverage of the CPL and the national teams will only help to create a buzz.
Still, there's work to be done at all levels of the province's football pyramid, be it improving Ligue 1 Québec, finding owners for both Project 8 and CPL franchises and celebrating the talent Québec proudly has on display through the national teams.
"The pyramid isn't done being built yet," said Bernard in summary. "The CPL is excellent but it needs to be coast to coast and that means a club in the province of Québec as well as something for our women. It's just got to be number one."
And Québec, as a province, is still finding its way as Canada continues its climb into relevancy on the world stage.
But you'd be hard pressed to find someone who didn't think the shop was ready and open for business. We'll see if people can continue to resist something that'll be so sweet once it finally comes to fruition.
This article is part of the ONESOCCER CREATOR SPOTLIGHT: Amplifying Canadian soccer voices through investment into content. If you're interested in being showcased on OneSoccer, send your story pitch to abedakian@mediapro.tv
