FC Continentals is a Canadian soccer club founded in 2008. The team is currently a member of the

Canadian Soccer League The Canadian Soccer League (CSL; french: Ligue canadienne de soccer — LCS) is a semi-professional league for Canadian soccer clubs primarily located in the province of Ontario, and claims the history of the Canadian National Soccer League (C ...

, a non-FIFA sanctioned league. The club originally played under the name FC Vorkuta and was renamed FC Continentals in 2022. Their home venue is

Centennial Park Stadium Centennial Park Stadium is a 2,200 seat capacity stadium in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is primarily used for soccer, track and field, football and occasionally for kabaddi. The park is also used for the ROPSSAA football finals and the PSAA (Pri ...

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Ontario.

History

The club was formed by Russian immigrants Igor Demitchev and Samad Kadirov in Toronto in 2008. The club derived its name from the main financier Demitchev's hometown

Vorkuta Vorkuta (russian: Воркута́; kv, Вӧркута, ''Vörkuta''; Nenets for "the abundance of bears", "bear corner") is a coal-mining town in the Komi Republic, Russia, situated just north of the Arctic Circle in the Pechora coal basin at ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. Initially the club operated at the amateur level in the Downtown Polson Pier Soccer League. In their debut season, Vorkuta achieved instant success after clinching both the regular and postseason titles. Within a year, the club transferred to the Thornhill Soccer Club League, and continued its uphill climb to success by winning the playoff title. In 2010, the team remained in the

York Region The Regional Municipality of York, also called York Region, is a regional municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada, between Lake Simcoe and Toronto. The region was established after the passing of then Bill 102, An Act to Establish The Regional M ...

territory by joining the Richmond Hill Soccer League, and the Downsview Hangar Indoor Soccer League. In 2016, the organization decided to make the transition to the professional ranks by applying for membership in the

. After presenting a successful strategic business plan, the club received the necessary votes in order to be approved by the league ownership. In preparation for the 2017 CSL season, the team hired the services of

Serhiy Zayets Serhiy Anatoliyovych Zayets ( uk, Сергій Анатолійович Заєць; russian: Серге́й Анатольевич Заец; born 18 August 1969) is a Ukrainian professional football coach and former player. Club career He made ...

as head coach. Zayets assembled a roster with several key CSL veterans acquired primarily from

FC Ukraine United FC Ukraine United is a Canadian soccer club founded in 2006. The team is currently a member of the Canadian Soccer League a league that is not sanctioned by any FIFA recognized body. Their home venue is located at Centennial Park Stadium in Etobi ...

. The acquisitions included

Sergiy Ivliev Serhiy Mykhailovych Ivliev ( uk, Сергій Михайлович Івлєв, translit=Serhii Mykhailovych Ivliev; born December 4, 1984) is a Ukrainian footballer who plays with Dynamo Toronto in the Canadian Soccer League. Playing career E ...

, Oleg Shutov, Mykhailo Bulkin,

Vitaliy Dnistryan Vitaliy Dnistryan (born March 31, 1990) is a Ukrainian footballer. Playing career Dnistryan began his career in 2008 with FC Enerhetyk Burshtyn in the Ukrainian First League. The following season he signed with FC Skala Stryi in the Ukrainian ...

, Danylo Lazar, Vadym Gostiev, and Oleh Kerchu was assigned the team captain. In addition to the CSL veterans, several imports were brought in from

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

and Russia to further strengthen the roster. Vorkuta made their professional debut on May 27, 2017 against

Milton SC Milton SC is a Canadian soccer club formed in 2014. The team is currently a member of the Canadian Academy of Soccer League. Their home venue is located at Milton Community Sports Park in the town of Milton, Ontario. History In 2014, professio ...

with a 7–0 victory with goals coming from Kerchu, Lazar, Shutov, Gostiev, and

Yaroslav Svorak Yaroslav Svorak ( ua, Ярослав Любомирович Сворак; born 7 February 1989) is a Ukrainian former professional football forward. Career He is a product of the Volyn Lutsk School System, and began his career in the Ukrain ...

. In the club's inaugural season at the professional level, Vorkuta managed to produce a significant result. By clinching the regular season title, and establishing the best offensive record with the second best defensive record. In the preliminary round of the postseason, they defeated Royal Toronto FC by a score of 6–3. Their 2017 campaign came to a conclusion in the following round after a 1–0 defeat to

Scarborough SC Scarborough SC is a Canadian soccer team founded in 2014. The team is currently a member of the Canadian Soccer League, a league that is not sanctioned by a FIFA recognized body. The team plays home games out of Birchmount Stadium in the district ...

. In 2018, the club produced a notable season by securing the

CSL Championship The Canadian Soccer League championship final or CSL Championship is the post-season match of the Canadian Soccer League (CSL) and is the successor to the CNSL Championship. The winner is crowned champion in the same manner as in other North A ...

, and found further success in the Second Division as its reserve squad secured the

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

(division title and DII Championship). In 2022, the club was renamed FC Continentals.

Crest

The club's first crest was in the shape of a circle with a soccer ball placed in the center along with the name of the club beneath it. The colors of the crest were blue, red, and white which represented the colors of the Canadian and the city of Toronto flags. On top of the crest was a barbed wire which symbolized the owner's birthplace

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

, Russia where a former

Gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= was the government agency in ...

labor camp A labor camp (or labour camp, see spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons (especi ...

was located. In 2022, the name of the club was changed to FC Continentals which also resulted in a rebranding of the club's logo.

Players

Current squad

Head coaches

(2017) * Samad Kadirov (2018) * Denys Yanchuk (2020) *

Andrei Malychenkov Andrey Yuryevich Malyshenkov (russian: Андрей Юрьевич Малышенков; born March 28, 1968) is a former Russian footballer who played as a midfielder. He is currently the head coach for FC Continentals in the Canadian Soccer Lea ...

& Viktor Raskov (2021) *

(2022–)

Honours

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

* CSL II Championship:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

First Division/Regular Season:

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Second Division:

*ProSound Cup:

Seasons

References

External links

FC Continentals
(Official website) {{DEFAULTSORT:Continentals FC Soccer clubs in Ontario Canadian Soccer League (1998–present) teams Soccer clubs in Toronto Association football clubs established in 2008 2008 establishments in Ontario Diaspora sports clubs Russian diaspora Ukrainian diaspora in Canada