FC Manitoba is a Canadian

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 ...

team based in

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

, Canada that plays in

USL League Two 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 ...

, the fourth tier of the

United States soccer league system The United States soccer league system is a series of professional and amateur soccer leagues based, in whole or in part, in the United States. Sometimes called the American soccer pyramid, teams and leagues are not linked by the system of prom ...

. The club was founded in 2010 as WSA Winnipeg. In 2020, the club was acquired by a new ownership group and re-organized and branded as FC Manitoba. The team plays its home games at the

Ralph Cantafio Soccer Complex The Ralph Cantafio Soccer Complex, originally known as the Winnipeg Soccer Complex, is a multi-use stadium in Winnipeg, Manitoba. It is currently used mostly for soccer matches. The main pitch, John Scouras Field, holds 2,000 spectators. The co ...

on the

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

-approved synthetic grass of the complex's John Scouras Field. The team's colours are navy, gold, and white.

History

WSA Winnipeg

The World Soccer Academy was founded in 2001 in Winnipeg as a youth soccer academy by Eduardo Badescu. In December 2010, WSA Winnipeg created a semi-professional team to participate in the US-based

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

to begin play in the 2011 season. This marked the return of high level soccer to the city of Winnipeg since the

Winnipeg Fury The Winnipeg Fury were a professional soccer team in Winnipeg, Canada. The team was part of the Canadian Soccer League from 1987 to 1992. They were one of four teams to participate in every season of the CSL. In 1993, they played in the Canadia ...

of the original

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 ...

ceased operations in 1993. The club was supported by

Mondetta Mondetta Clothing Inc. is a Canadian leisure and sportswear design and manufacturing company, best known for its world flag-themed apparel. Based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Mondetta has four main divisions: Mondetta, Mondetta Originals, MPG, and Moder ...

, a well-recognized brand in Canadian professional sports, as one of its primary sponsors. The team primarily fielded rosters built around local talent. They played their debut match on May 28, 2011, against the

Thunder Bay Chill Thunder Bay Chill Soccer Club is a Canadian soccer team based in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 2000, the team plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. The team plays its home games at Chapples Park S ...

, losing 1-0. They got their first win the next day in a rematch versus the Chill, winning 3-0. The first goal in franchise history was scored by Kenny Sacramento. In their first season, they played an exhibition match against Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

club

AS Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...

FC Manitoba

In January 2020, the team was purchased by the Garcea Group of Companies and renamed FC Manitoba, while revamping the entire development system of the club, separating from the World Soccer Academy. The team also received new colours and a new logo. The new team's debut season in 2020 was cancelled 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 ...

. In September 2020, they signed former

player

Michele Paolucci Michele Paolucci (born 6 February 1986) is an Italian footballer who plays as a forward for Canadian club FC Manitoba. Club career Juventus and loans Paolucci came through the ranks at Juventus. After graduating from their ''Primavera'' youth ...

to a contract. Due to the travel restrictions as a result of the continuing pandemic, the team opted out of the 2021 USL League Two season as well. Instead, in 2021, they participated in the 2021 Summer Series with other Canadian semi-professional and amateur clubs. FC Manitoba would return to USL2 for the 2022 season.

Year-by-year

Head coaches

*Eduardo Badescu (2011–2019) *Tony Mazza (2020) *Jose Borg (2021–)

Affiliate team

FC Manitoba also operates an affiliate team, Ital-Inter SC, in Premier Division of the Manitoba Major Soccer League.

Women's team

In 2021, they announced that they would be creating a women's team. They were set to join the semi-professional US-based

Women's Premier Soccer League The Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) is an amateur women's soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is the top amateur league for women's soccer in the United States soccer pyramid, below only National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). T ...

References

External links

*
Official USL League Two site
{{Manitoba Sports Association football clubs established in 2010 USL League Two teams Soccer clubs in Winnipeg 2010 establishments in Manitoba Expatriated football clubs