Canada Soccer’s young stars have arrived in Indonesia where the final selection of 21 men’s footballers for the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup have been confirmed ahead of next week’s opening match on Friday, November 10. Canada are in Group B alongside Spain, Uzbekistan and Mali as part of the biennial 24-nation, 52-match competition that wraps up Saturday, December 2 at Manahan Stadium in Surakarta, Indonesia.
Canada will open the FIFA U-17 World Cup Indonesia 2023™ against Spain on Friday, November 10 at Manahan Stadium in Surakarta (5 a.m. PT). Across Group B, Canada will also face Uzbekistan on Monday, November 13 at Manahan Stadium (5 a.m. PT) and then Mali on Thursday, November 16 at Gelora Bung Tomo Stadium in Benowo (2 a.m. PT). In Canada throughout the competition, all the matches will be broadcast through TSN and RDS while fans will find coverage across Canada Soccer’s digital channels on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube featuring the hashtag #canm17.
“It is pinnacle events like this that our most talented young Canadians need to experience and to rise up on their journey towards the highest tiers of the global game,” said Andrew Olivieri, Canada Soccer’s men’s national youth excel director. “Putting together a collectively disciplined and brave run of performances in Indonesia will be what the squad needs to take this program to a knockout stage for the first time at a FIFA U-17 World Cup. In achieving that, those performances can also help springboard some of these young men’s careers.”
This marks the first FIFA U-17 World Cup since the global pandemic and the first time Indonesia has hosted a FIFA youth tournament. Beyond the group stage which runs November 10-18, the Round of 16 is scheduled for November 20-21, the Quarterfinals are scheduled for November 24-25, the Semifinals on November 28, the Match for Third Place on December 1, and the Final on Saturday, December 2.
Canada were one of four Concacaf nations that qualified for the FIFA U-17 World Cup back in February at the 2023 Concacaf Men’s Under-17 Championship in Guatemala. It marked the first time in a decade that Canada qualified for back-to-back FIFA U-17 World Cups, having also reached the group stage at the FIFA U-17 World Cup Brazil 2019 before the pandemic. This year’s group features players born 2006 or later.
Since the Concacaf Men’s Under-17 Championship in February, Canada’s best players have returned to their clubs at the academy and professional levels in Canada, USA, France, Germany and Poland. The Canada squad got back to together on the pitch in late September when they flew to Brazil for a pair of international matches against the reigning 2023 South American champions Brazil (who as a nation were also the last FIFA U-17 World Cup winners in 2019).
Led by coach Andrew Olivieri, Canada’s FIFA U-17 World Cup squad features: goalkeepers Nathaniel Abraham, Dominic Kantorowicz and Alexander O’Brien; centre backs and outside fullbacks Theo Rigopoulos, Gaël de Montigny, Chimere Omeze, Lazar Stefanovic, Aidan Fong, Richard Chukwu, Victor Fung, Etienne Godin and Lino Aklil; and midfielders, forwards and wingers Alessandro Biello, Taryck Tahid, Jeevan Badwal, Antoni Klukowski, Philip Igbinobaro, Kevaughn Tavernier, Tyler Londono, Erik Pop and Lucas Ozimec.
CANADA SOCCER’S MEN’S NATIONAL TEAM PROGRAM
Canada Soccer’s Men’s EXCEL Program channels our nation’s exceptional players from the best soccer environments across the globe. Domestically, the Canada Soccer Pathway works in collaboration with our provincial and territory partners as well as our professional clubs and academies. For Canada’s elite players, the program emphasizes player development on the pathway to representing Canada’s Men’s National Team in international soccer.
The FIFA U-17 World Cup Indonesia 2023™ provides an important development step towards future Concacaf and FIFA youth competitions at the U-17 and U-20 levels and more importantly a step towards competing at the international level for Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team at Concacaf, FIFA and Olympic tournaments. Since the last FIFA U-17 World Cup four years ago at Brazil 2019, already a trio of those players have earned call ups to the Men’s National Team (Jayden Nelson, Ralph Prio, Jacen Russell-Rowe).
CANADA
1- GK- Nathaniel Abraham | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
2- FB- Theo Rigopoulos | CAN / Toronto FC Academy II
3- FB- Gaël de Montigny | CAN / Académie CF Montréal
4- M- Alessandro Biello | CAN / Académie CF Montréal
5- CB- Chimere Omeze | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
6- CB- Lazar Stefanovic | CAN / Toronto FC Academy II
7- F- Taryck Tahid | CAN / Vancouver FC
8- M- Jeevan Badwal | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Academy
9- F- Antoni Klukowski | POL / Pogoń Szczecin
10- M- Philip Igbinobaro | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
11- F- Kevaughn Tavernier | CAN / Forge FC Hamilton
12- FB- Aidan Fong | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Academy
13- M- Richard Chukwu | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
14- M- Tyler Londono | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
15- CB- Victor Fung | USA / Inter Miami CF Academy
16- GK- Dominic Kantorowicz | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
17- CB- Étienne Godin | CAN / Académie CF Montréal
18- GK- Alexander O’Brien | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
19- F- Erik Pop | GER / Karlsruher FC U-19
20- FB- Lino Aklil | FRA / HSC Montpellier
21- F- Lucas Ozimec | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
Alternates / Les alternatives
22- M- Liam MacKenzie | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Academy
23- CB- Sergei Kozlovskiy | CAN / Académie de CF Montréal
CANADA (A-Z)
Player | Age | City in which they grew up | Notable youth clubs
Abraham, Nathaniel | 2007 | Toronto, ON, CAN | Vaughan SC Azzurri
Aklil, Lino | 2006 | Aix-en-Provence, FRA | US Puyricard
Badwal, Jeevan | 2006 | Surrey, BC, CAN | Surrey FC
Biello, Alessandro | 2006 | Montréal, QC, CAN | CS St-Léonard
Chukwu, Richard | 2008 | Toronto, ON, CAN | Bradford Eagles SC
de Montigny, Gaël | 2006 | Montréal, QC, CAN | CS Mascouche
Fong, Aidan | 2006 | Vancouver, BC, CAN | Killarney YSA
Fung, Victor | 2007 | Caracas, VEN & Weston, FL, USA | Escuela Campo Alegre
Godin, Étienne | 2006 | Montréal, QC, CAN | CS Mont-Royal Outremont
Igbinobaro, Philip | 2006 | Toronto, ON, CAN | Glen Shields FC
Kantorowicz, Dominic | 2008 | Caledon, ON, CAN | Brampton Elite SA
Klukowski, Antoni | 2007 | Warsaw, POL & Palma Mallorca, ESP | Escola Varovia
Londono, Tyler | 2006 | Aurora & Toronto, ON, CAN | Hurricane Weston
O’Brien, Alexander | 2006 | Toronto, ON, CAN | North Toronto SC
Omeze, Chimere | 2006 | Toronto, ON, CAN | Brampton East SC
Ozimec, Lucas | 2006 | Oakville, ON, CAN | Oakville SC
Pop, Erik | 2006 | Mississauga, ON, CAN | Mississauga Prostars FC
Rigopoulos, Theo | 2006 | London, ON, CAN | London Norwest
Stefanovic, Lazar | 2006 | Oakville, ON, CAN | Oakville SC
Tahid, Taryck | 2007 | Maple Ridge, BC, CAN | New Westminster Africa United FC
Tavernier, Kevaughn | 2006 | Brampton, ON, CAN | Brampton YSC
