Justin Springer (born 8 July 1993) is a former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

and current coach, who serves as head coach of

League1 Ontario League1 Ontario (L1O) is a semi-professional men's soccer league in Ontario, Canada. The league began play in 2014 and is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Ontario Soccer Association as a pro-am league in the Canadian so ...

club

Guelph United FC Guelph United Football Club is a Canadian semi-professional soccer club based in Guelph, Ontario that plays in League1 Ontario. The women's team is known as Guelph Union and competes in the League1 Ontario women's division. Both teams play at t ...

. Born in Canada, he represented the Saint Kitts and Nevis national team.

University career

Springer began attending the

University of Guelph , mottoeng = "to learn the reasons of realities" , established = May 8, 1964 ()As constituents: OAC: (1874) Macdonald Institute: (1903) OVC: (1922) , type = Public university , chancellor ...

in 2012, where he played for the men's soccer team. In his first season, he played all sixteen games and was named an

OUA Oua is an islet on the north-east of Nukufetau atoll, Tuvalu, next to Lafanga atoll. References

Islands of Tuvalu Pacific islands claimed under the Guano Islands Act Nukufetau {{tuvalu-geo-stub ...

West First Team All-Star. In his second season, he was once again named an OUA First Team All-Star and was invited to play in the OUA Showcase in the spring. He was once again named an OUA West First Team All-Star in both his third and fourth seasons. In his fifth and final season, he captained the team and helped the team with the OUA championship and earn a third-place finish in the 2016 CIS Championship. He was named an OUA First Team All-Star for the fifth consecutive year, while also being named a

U Sports U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body of university sport in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country. Its equivalent body for organized sports at colleges in Canada is the Ca ...

Second Team All-Canadian.

Club career

Springer began playing for

USL PDL USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United States soccer league syste ...

club K–W United FC in 2015. In 2016, he made 13 appearances, scoring one goal and appearing in one playoff match. In 2017, Springer made another 11 appearances for K–W, scoring one goal and making one playoff appearance. He then spent a couple months on trial with

Toronto FC II Toronto FC II is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Toronto, Ontario, who play in MLS Next Pro, a third tier league of the United States soccer league system. It is the reserve team and minor league affiliate of Toronto FC as well as i ...

. In 2018, Springer joined

club

Vaughan Azzurri Vaughan Azzurri is a Canadian semi-professional soccer team based in Vaughan, Ontario, that currently competes in the League1 Ontario men's and women's divisions. The semi-professional team was founded in 2014 by the Vaughan Soccer Club, which ...

, making nine appearances in the regular season and appearing in Vaughan's first two playoff matches of the group stage. He then played in the final against

Woodbridge Strikers Woodbridge Strikers Soccer Club is a Canadian semi-professional soccer club based in Woodbridge, Ontario. The club was founded in 1976 as a youth soccer club and added its semi-professional club in League1 Ontario in 2014. The team plays home ga ...

, winning the league championship. On 8 February 2019, Springer signed his first professional contract with

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 York9. He made his debut for York9 in their inaugural match against

Forge FC Forge FC is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Hamilton, Ontario, that competes in the Canadian Premier League, the top tier of Canadian soccer. The club plays its home matches at Tim Hortons Field. Forge FC joined the CPL in 2019 as ...

on April 27, 2019. He played in 11 league matches in 2019. While serving as the

associate coach, he appeared in two matches in 2021, playing the full 90 minutes each time.

International career

Springer was born in Canada to a Kittitian father. He represented Canada at the 2015 FISU Universiade. He made his debut for the

Saint Kitts and Nevis national football team The Saint Kitts and Nevis national football team is the national team of Saint Kitts and Nevis and is controlled by the St. Kitts and Nevis Football Association. They are affiliated to the Caribbean Football Union of CONCACAF. They are nicknam ...

in a friendly 0–0 tie with

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

on 31 August 2016. In September 2019, he declined a national team call-up to pursue minute with his club team, but returned to the squad the for the next set of call-ups in October and November.

Coaching career

He has served as the assistant coach of the

Gryphons soccer team since 2018 and also serves as the Technical Manager of the youth Guelph Soccer Club. In 2021, he was named as co-head coach of Guelph United F.C. in

, alongside Keith Mason. In 2021, after Guelph United won the league title, he was named co-coach of the year with fellow Guelph Associate coach Keith Mason. In 2023, he became the full-time head coach, with Mason becoming the General Manager.

Career statistics

Honours

K–W United * USL PDL Championship:

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Vaughan Azzurri * League1 Ontario Championship:

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 ...

Guelph United * League1 Ontario Championship:

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 ...

Individual *

OUA Oua is an islet on the north-east of Nukufetau atoll, Tuvalu, next to Lafanga atoll. References

Islands of Tuvalu Pacific islands claimed under the Guano Islands Act Nukufetau {{tuvalu-geo-stub ...

First Team All-Star: 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 *

Second Team All-Canadian: 2015

References

External links

Guelph Gryphons profile
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Springer, Justin 1993 births Living people Saint Kitts and Nevis men's footballers Men's association football defenders Saint Kitts and Nevis men's international footballers Saint Kitts and Nevis football managers Sportspeople from Burlington, Ontario Soccer people from Ontario Canadian men's soccer players K–W United FC players York United FC players Vaughan Azzurri players USL League Two players League1 Ontario players Canadian Premier League players Canadian soccer coaches Canadian people of Saint Kitts and Nevis descent Sportspeople of Saint Kitts and Nevis descent Guelph United F.C. players Guelph Gryphons men's soccer players Guelph Gryphons men's soccer coaches Competitors at the 2015 Summer Universiade