Antoine Coupland (born December 12, 2003) is a Canadian professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for Croatian club

HNK Rijeka Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka ( en, Croatian Football Club Rijeka), commonly referred to as NK Rijeka or simply Rijeka, is a Croatian professional association football, football club from the city of Rijeka. HNK Rijeka compete in Croatia's top ...

Club career

Early career

Before turning pro, Coupland was a member of Ottawa club St. Anthony SC's Futuro Soccer Academy programme. In July 2019, he was set to go on trial with English club

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

, but turned down the opportunity to instead sign a professional contract with his hometown team, Ottawa Fury.

Ottawa Fury

On July 11, 2019, Coupland signed his first professional contract with

Ottawa Fury FC Ottawa Fury Football Club was a Canadian professional soccer club based in Ottawa, Ontario. The club competed in the North American Soccer League and USL Championship and played its home games at TD Place Stadium. The Ottawa Fury FC were diss ...

. At the age of 15 years old, Coupland became the youngest first-team player in the club's history and one of the youngest professional players in Canada. Coupland made his debut for the Fury on July 20, 2019, coming off the bench in the final minutes of the game in a 4–0 victory over

Swope Park Rangers Sporting Kansas City II is a MLS Next Pro club affiliated with Sporting Kansas City of Major League Soccer. For the 2022 season they will play their home games at Rock Chalk Park at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, as well as Sw ...

. After one season with the Fury, the club would cease operations for the 2020 season, making Coupland a free agent.

Atlético Ottawa

On March 5, 2020, Coupland signed with new

Canadian Premier League The Canadian Premier League (CPL or CanPL; french: Première ligue canadienne, links=no) is a professional men's Association football, soccer league in Canada. At the top of the Canadian soccer league system, it is the country's primary nationa ...

side

Atlético Ottawa Atlético Ottawa is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Ottawa, Ontario. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League and plays its home games at TD Place Stadium, TD Place. The team was founded in 2020 by Spa ...

. He made his debut on August 19 against

Valour FC Valour Football Club 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. The team is coached by Phillip Dos Santos and community owned thro ...

. He played in three of the club's seven total matches during the season, which was drastically shortened due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, playing a total of 98 minutes. He re-signed with the club for the 2021 season January 25, 2021. On July 11, Coupland scored his first professional goal, netting the second against

Cavalry FC Cavalry Football Club, is a Canadian professional soccer club based in the Calgary metropolitan region of Alberta. The club competes at the top of the Canadian soccer league system in the Canadian Premier League, and plays their home matches a ...

in a 2–0 victory. In November 2021, after Ottawa's elimination from playoff contention, Coupland announced he was going on trial with clubs in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

Rijeka

On February 6, 2022, Coupland signed with the first team of Croatian First Football League side

International career

On May 13, 2022 Coupland was named to the 60-man provisional Canadian U-20 team for the 2022 CONCACAF U-20 Championship.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coupland, Antonie Living people 2003 births Association football midfielders Canadian soccer players Soccer people from Quebec People from Chelsea, Quebec Canadian expatriate soccer players Expatriate footballers in Croatia Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Ottawa Fury FC players Atlético Ottawa players HNK Rijeka players USL Championship players Canadian Premier League players