Valour FC

Valour FC is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League and plays its home matches at IG Field.

Valour FC
Full nameValour Football Club[1]
FoundedMay 6, 2017 (2017-05-06)
StadiumIG Field, Winnipeg
Capacity33,000
OwnerWinnipeg Football Club
(community ownership)
PresidentWade Miller
CoachPhillip Dos Santos
LeagueCanadian Premier League
2022Regular season, 8th
Playoffs, did not qualify
WebsiteClub website

The team is coached by Phillip Dos Santos and community owned through the Winnipeg Football Club.

History

On May 6, 2017, Winnipeg was one of two cities accepted by the Canadian Soccer Association for professional club membership when the Canadian Premier League was unanimously approved.[2] It was confirmed that Canadian Football League clubs the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats were behind the ownership groups.[3] Wade Miller, CEO of the Winnipeg Football Club, was named as the club's president.[4]

In May 2018, it was reported that the club would be called Valour FC.[5] On June 6, 2018 the club was officially unveiled as the fourth team to join the Canadian Premier League.[6] As well as confirming its place in the league for the 2019 launch season, the club also revealed its crest, colours and branding.[7] On June 26, the club named Rob Gale as the first head coach and general manager.[8]

In the overall standings, Valour ranked 6th of 7 teams in 2019, 6th of 8 teams in 2020, and 5th of 8 teams in 2021. On September 23, 2021, while in 5th place, Valour FC sacked head coach Rob Gale and named Phillip Dos Santos as his replacement.[9]

Stadium
Exterior façade of IG Field, the home field for Valour FC.

The club plays its home games at IG Field, a 33,234-seat Canadian football stadium.[10] The stadium opened in 2013 on the University of Manitoba campus next to University Stadium.[11] The stadium is also used by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the University of Manitoba Bisons football team.[12]

Crest and colours

The club's identity is heavily linked to the story of Winnipeg's Valour Road, and named to recognize Corporal Leo Clarke, Sergeant-Major Frederick William Hall, and Lieutenant Robert Shankland, who all lived on the same street and received the Victoria Cross for acts of bravery during the First World War.[13]

The letter "V" in the centre of the crest emulates a folded medal ribbon and also represents the meeting of the Red River and Assiniboine River in Winnipeg.[14] The right side of the "V" creates a "W" for Winnipeg, and the circle under the "V" is in the shape of the Victoria Cross medal. The wheat at the top of the crest represents Manitoba's agricultural industry.[15]

The official club colours are maroon, gold and black (branded by the club as "Valour maroon," "wheat gold," and "earth black"). These colours symbolize the ribbon of the Victoria Cross and the wheat fields and soil of the Canadian Prairies.[14]

Youth

On August 8, 2018, Valour FC Elite Girls (formerly the Manitoba Blizzard) was founded to give girls in Winnipeg an opportunity to travel to college showcases in the U.S and Canada, while getting educated on the recruiting process. The team will be led by Head Coach Jim Zinko and Manager Trevor Kidd. Training begins in the fall, while the Valour FC Elite Girls competition season runs from late November into April.[16]

Club culture

The club's mascot leans heavily on imagery of the Victoria Cross, being a lion named 'Vic'. He wears the club's colours on a t-shirt, shorts, and wristbands.[17]

Red River Rising Supporters group first met at Nicolino's Restaurant in January 2017, before a Winnipeg team was announced. The group met regularly in anticipation of an eventual Winnipeg team and now occupy section 144 at IG Field.[18] The section is known as The Trench.[19]

Players and staff

Roster
As of July 26, 2023[20]
No. Position Player Nation
1 GK Jordan Tisseur  Canada
2 DF Andy Baquero  Cuba
3 DF Jordan Haynes  Canada
4 DF Guillaume Pianelli  France
5 DF Abdou Samaké  Mali
6 MF Dante Campbell  Canada
7 MF Kian Williams  England
8 MF Diego Gutiérrez  Canada
9 FW Walter Ponce  Chile
10 MF Kevin Rendón  Colombia
11 FW Jared Ulloa  Peru
12 FW Ahinga Selemani  United States
15 DF Matthew Chandler  Canada
18 DF Klaidi Cela  Canada
19 DF Eskander Mzoughi  Tunisia
20 MF Juan Pablo Sánchez  United States
21 MF Marcello Polisi  Canada
22 DF Matteo de Brienne  Canada
23 FW Anthony Novak  Canada
24 MF Pacifique Niyongabire  Burundi
27 MF Raphael Ohin  Ghana
32 FW Jaime Siaj  Jordan
35 DF Andrew Jean-Baptiste  Haiti
99 GK Rayane Yesli  Algeria

Current staff
As of March 4, 2023[21][22]
Executive
President & CEO Wade Miller
General manager Phillip Dos Santos
Coaching staff
Head coach Phillip Dos Santos
Assistant coach Jay Bhindi
Assistant coach Damian Rocke
Goalkeeping coach Patrick Di Stefani

Head coaches
As of October 7, 2023 [23]
Coach Nation Tenure Record
GWDLWin %
Rob Gale  England June 26, 2018 – September 23, 2021 57 18 8 31 031.58
Phillip Dos Santos  Canada September 23, 2021 – present 68 20 17 31 029.41

Club captains
Years Name Nation
2019 Jordan Murrell[24][25] Canada Canada
2019 Skylar Thomas[24] Canada Canada
2020 Dylan Carreiro[26] Canada Canada
2020–2022 Daryl Fordyce[27] Northern Ireland Northern Ireland
2021–present Andrew Jean-Baptiste[27] Haiti Haiti

Records

Year-by-year
Season League Playoffs CC Continental Average
attendance		 Top goalscorer(s)
DivLeague PldWDLGFGAGDPtsPPGPos. NameGoals
2019[28] 1 CPL 2884163052–22281.006th DNQ R2 DNQ 5,335 Canada Marco Bustos 7
2020 CPL 722389–181.146th DNQ N/A Eight players 1
2021 CPL 28105133836+2351.255th QF New Zealand Moses Dyer 9
2022 CPL 28107113634+2371.325th PR 3,111 New Zealand Moses Dyer9

1. Average attendance include statistics from league matches only.
2. Top goalscorer(s) includes all goals scored in league season, league playoffs, Canadian Championship, CONCACAF League, and other competitive continental matches.

All-time most appearances
As of July 22, 2022[29]
# Name Nation Career at club Games Played Goals Scored
CPL Cup Int'l Total CPL Cup Int'l Total
1 Raphael Ohin  Ghana 2019–present 53 4 0 55 1 0 0 1
2 Federico Pena  Trinidad & Tobago 2019–present 49 3 0 49 0 0 0 0
3 Moses Dyer  New Zealand 2020–present 46 3 0 46 16 0 0 16
4 Stefan Cebara  Canada 2020–present 45 2 0 47 2 0 0 2
5 Daryl Fordyce  Canada 2020–present 42 3 0 45 4 0 0 4
6 William Akio  Canada 2020-2022 41 3 0 44 10 0 0 10
Diego Gutierrez  Canada 2019-2021, 2022–present 42 2 0 44 0 0 0 0
8 Sean Rea  Canada 2021–present 36 3 0 39 4 1 0 5
9 Andy Baquero  Canada 2021–present 35 1 0 36 2 0 0 2
10 Brett Levis  Canada 2020–present 31 2 0 33 2 0 0 2
11 Dylan Carreiro  Canada 2019–2020 30 1 0 31 3 0 0 3
Rocco Romeo  Canada 2021–present 29 2 0 31 3 0 0 3
13 Jose Galan  Spain 2019-2021 29 1 0 30 1 0 0 1
14 Marco Bustos  Canada 2019 25 2 0 27 7 1 0 8
15 Rafael Galhardo  Brazil 2021 23 2 0 25 2 0 0 2
16 Keven Aleman  Canada 2021 24 0 0 24 3 0 0 3
Austin Ricci  Canada 2020-2021 22 2 0 24 5 3 0 8
18 Jared Ulloa  Peru 2021 22 1 0 23 0 0 0 0
Skylar Thomas  Canada 2019 22 1 0 23 0 0 0 0
Louis Béland-Goyette  Canada 2019 21 2 0 23 1 0 0 1
21 Jordan Murrell  Canada 2019 20 2 0 22 0 0 0 0
Tyler Attardo  Canada 2019 20 2 0 22 6 0 0 6
23 Adam Mitter  England 2019 20 1 0 21 0 0 0 0
24 Martín Arguiñarena  Uruguay 2019 18 2 0 20 0 0 0 0
25 Andrew Jean-Baptiste  Haiti 2020–present 19 0 0 19 3 0 0 3
26 Michael Petrasso  Canada 2019 18 0 0 18 6 0 0 6
Masta Kacher  Canada 2020-2021 17 1 0 18 1 0 0 1

Note: Bold indicates active player

References
  1. "Valour Football Club". Valour FC. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  2. O'Connor-Clarke, Charlie (May 6, 2017). "Canadian Premier League unanimously ratified by CSA". Waking the Red. Archived from the original on January 20, 2018. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
  3. Friesen, Paul (May 12, 2017). "New soccer league could work here". Winnipeg Sun. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
  4. Golby, Travis (May 7, 2017). "Winnipeg scores spot in Canadian pro soccer league". CBC News. Archived from the original on May 6, 2019. Retrieved June 11, 2017.
  5. "The CanPL Hub on Twitter". Twitter. May 18, 2018. Archived from the original on May 9, 2019. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
  6. McIsaac, Greg (June 6, 2018). "Valour FC Joins Canadian Premier League". Canadian Premier League. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
  7. "Winnipeg entry in the Canadian Premier League to be called Valour FC". National Post. June 6, 2018. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
  8. "Rob Gale named inaugural Head Coach & GM". Valour FC. June 26, 2018. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved June 26, 2018.
  9. Jaques, John (September 23, 2021). "Valour FC Fires Rob Gale, Names Phillip Dos Santos As New Head Coach". Northern Tribune. Archived from the original on September 3, 2022. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
  10. "Stadium Profile". valourfc.canpl.ca. Valour FC. June 6, 2018. Archived from the original on April 3, 2019. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
  11. "Investors Group Field costs balloon to $203.5M". CBC News. September 23, 2013. Archived from the original on September 3, 2022. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
  12. "Stadium History". Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Archived from the original on September 3, 2022. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
  13. "Winnipeg entry in the Canadian Premier League to be called Valour FC". Vancouver Courier. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
  14. "Emblem Inspiration". valourfc.canpl.ca. Valour FC. June 6, 2018. Archived from the original on June 10, 2018. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
  15. "Valour FC announced as fourth CanPL team". The CanPL Hub. June 6, 2018. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
  16. "Valour FC Elite Girls". valourfc.canpl.ca. Archived from the original on September 3, 2022. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
  17. "Meet Valour FC's mascot". Valour FC. canpl.ca. Archived from the original on April 17, 2019. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
  18. Sawatzky, Mike (April 30, 2019). "Eager soccer fans will ensure Red River Rising all season long". Winnipeg Free Press. Archived from the original on May 8, 2019. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
  19. Sawatzky, Mike (May 4, 2019). "Soccer fans revved about Valour FC debut". Winnipeg Free Press. Archived from the original on July 15, 2019. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
  20. "Roster". Valour FC. Archived from the original on October 23, 2021. Retrieved March 4, 2022.
  21. "Stewardship". valourfc.canpl.ca. Archived from the original on January 13, 2022. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
  22. "Valour FC announce update to coaching staff". February 15, 2023. Retrieved March 5, 2023.
  23. "CanPL Schedule".
  24. "Valour FC names Jordan Murrell, Skylar Thomas as inaugural captains". canpl.com. Canadian Premier League. April 24, 2019. Archived from the original on September 3, 2022. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  25. "Valour's Murrell apologizes for red card incident, steps down as captain". canpl.com. Canadian Premier League. August 7, 2019. Archived from the original on August 11, 2019. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
  26. "Valour FC parts ways with Canadian midfielder Dylan Carreiro". canpl.ca. Canadian Premier League. October 17, 2020. Archived from the original on April 15, 2021. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
  27. "'My heart was pounding': Valour FC reveal Jean-Baptiste & Fordyce as 2021 captains". canpl.ca. Canadian Premier League. June 4, 2021. Archived from the original on June 11, 2021. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
  28. "Canadian Premier League". Canadian Premier League 2019 Standings. Archived from the original on June 30, 2019. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
  29. "Valour FC Stats and History". FBRef. Archived from the original on July 14, 2021. Retrieved July 14, 2021.
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