For those who enjoy watching a sport commonly referred to as the beautiful game, there has perhaps never been a more exciting time to cheer on Canadians playing soccer than right now.
Next month the Canada’s National Men’s Soccer Team will compete in its first World Cup in 36 yearsand on Sunday the Canadian Premier League kick off of the final between Atlético Ottawa and Forge FC.
While fans of FC Edmonton may be discouraged that their club has yet to compete for a PCL championship, that disappointment may pale in comparison to the growing uncertainty over whether the Eddies will even continue to play in Canada’s top domestic professional league.
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Late last year, the CPL took over operation of the Eddies from owners Tom and Dave Fath who founded the club in 2010. FC Edmonton were forced to spend the 2022 CPL season fielding players loaned out from rival clubs while operating on a shoestring budget, resulting in a dismal campaign that saw the club win just four of their 28 matches.
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“I’ve never lost as many games as we’ve lost this year in my entire career,” Eddies head coach Alan Koch told Global News this week as he reflected on the club’s season and what will happen with FC Edmonton in the future.
“That was the biggest challenge for me personally.”
Despite the club’s struggles in the win column, Koch said there was reason to be proud of FC Edmonton’s performance.
“(Early this year) one of the league members – when presenting the budget – said, ‘If you get three wins, that’s a huge success,’ he recalled. We got four wins, so we exceeded expectations in a lot of ways I guess.”
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While a new ownership group has still not been announced now that FC Edmonton’s season is over, Koch said he has inquired about developments in this regard, but has not received no news. Global News contacted the CPL this week for an update on finding a new owner, but has yet to hear back.
“If the club is moved or folds, or if it takes a break or if there is no team in this city, I think it’s going to be incredibly sad,” Koch said.
FC Edmonton first competed in the North American Soccer League until 2017. They did not play in the 2018 season, but returned in 2019 as a CPL club in the inaugural season of this league.
Duane Rollins, a Canadian soccer insider and co-host of the soccer today podcast, told Global News this week that he thinks the NASL’s move away from playing a season in the CPL has had a detrimental impact on the Eddies as an organization.
Rollins said while the Canadian soccer community waits and watches to see what the future holds for FC Edmonton, it would be a sad day for the sport in the country if the club ceases to exist.
“When it comes to the sport as a whole, Edmonton is an important city for the country,” he said.
“It would be a shame not to have a team in one of the biggest cities in this country.”
–With files from Slav Kornik, Global News
© 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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