BUlvar Saint-Laurent is one of Montreal's great arteries, a street for foodies craving smoked meat sandwiches or authentic pizza at one of the dozen different restaurants in Little Italy. It's also home to Evangelista Sports, a store that has been a shrine to soccer-obsessed city dwellers for more than 40 years and is as much a part of Montreal's cultural fabric as poutine or lamenting the cold.
It was here that FC Supra du Quebec decided to announce their first transfers last week. The Canadian Premier League (CPL) expansion team is aiming to become part of the cultural identity of the city and province, hoping that their commitment to recruiting a full roster of players born or raised in Quebec, inspired by European clubs such as Athletic Bilbao, will go a long way in creating a pathway through which talent has so often slipped away.
“We needed it, the players needed it, the youth in this province needed it,” says club president and co-founder Rocco Placentino. “We needed a CPL team. I know this sounds biased because I'm from here, but we have a lot of talent in Quebec, a lot of talent.”
Quebec is Canada's second most populous province, home to approximately nine million people. Both Canada's men's and women's national teams are filled with players from Quebec, and many of them – be it Moise Bombito, Ismael Kone, Nathan Saliba, Maxime Crepeau or Mathieu Choiniere – are likely to be on head coach Jesse March's roster for this summer's World Cup.
But the path wasn't always clear for a talent like Montreal's, now MLSFor a long time they were the only professional club in the province. Bombito, whom Marsh called a symbol of the country's development system, struggled to find a way to break out of the amateur ranks until he found his success outside of Quebec with the Colorado Rapids.
Placentino says FC Supra will help bridge that gap by providing opportunities for players between Ligue1 Québec, the province's professional league, and MLS. The CPL is also a first division league.
“Who's the next Moise Bombito? Who's the next Ismael Kone? Now we have a real platform for them,” he says. “We want people to come and see players who were born in our clubs, who played in Quebec or who moved from another country and played amateur football here and are now playing professionally.”
Sean Rea is one of the first Supra FC players announced along with fellow CPL veterans David Choiniere (brother of Los Angeles' Mathieu) and Loïc Quemi last week. Rea, 23, joined Montreal's academy, but due to the club's lack of an MLS Next Pro team, he had to leave home to play professional minutes. He spent two years on loan in the CPL before making his debut for Montreal. He then went on trial with the Portland Timbers before signing with Spain before returning to Canada with the Halifax Wanderers. Now he's back home and preparing to play in front of friends and family for the first time since leaving MLS.
He said the Supra could provide the opportunities he wished he had as a young player entering Montreal's academy.
“Before there was only the Montreal academy, and to get there you had to go to certain schools.” says Ree. “The talent failed because they didn't go to these schools, so they couldn't go to the academy, but they are such talented players that you might not hear about them until later… With a team like Supra, you sign a contract at 18.” [for CF Montréal] and you can rent here and get these minutes. This gives you the opportunity to play. I have no doubt that this will continue in the future, they will have a lot of loan players.”
Placentino confirms that Montreal and Supra already have a good relationship, adding that they will loan players who meet their criteria. But the more important aspect of their project is to provide a platform for young players outside the academy to shine, with FC Supra visiting eight clubs across the province for open trials. He says there's enough room on the roster to give new pros a chance they wouldn't otherwise get. Over the past few weeks, about 400 players have been tried.
“There are so many great clubs in our province and Supra wants to help them succeed. [their goals] and develop young stars,” says Placentino.
FC Supra's pre-season training will begin in January with referees supported by more experienced players such as Rea and Choiniere, a former Montrealer who joined the trophy cabinet with Hamilton-based Forge. Things are only set to heat up as the club announce new signings, sponsorships and kit releases in the coming weeks ahead of kick-off.
Already there is a feeling, notes Rea, that the Supra football club is quickly becoming integrated into the fabric of the city. Little things like honoring the legacy of the original Supra, which played in the former Canadian Professional Soccer League (CPSL) from 1988 to 1992, go a long way in creating cultural connections.
“Everyone knows about the club. Now our job as players is to perform and attract even more people. There are people here who want to watch football. There is a big buzz in the city, we can already feel it,” says Rea.
This excitement should come as no surprise given that soccer is the province's favorite sport, with approximately 170,000 people participating in Soccer Québec programs in 2023. That same year, youth participation was almost double that of hockey (139,000 vs. 75,840). And with the arrival of the Montreal Rose of the Northern Super League and now the Supras, there has never been greater appetite or opportunity for professional football in the city.
“When we say that this is club from here, from hereIt's not just about football. This applies to everything related to football,” says Placentino. “We can’t wait to get started.”
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Josh Healy is a Canadian soccer journalist based in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. His work has appeared in various publications, including The Athletic, OneSoccer, DARBY Magazine and others.
