Master's FA

Master's Futbol Academy, commonly known as Master's FA, is a Canadian semi-professional soccer club based in Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario. The club was founded in 2009 as a soccer academy and added its team in the semi-professional League1 Ontario, the third tier in the Canadian soccer league system.

Master's Futbol

Full name	Master's Futbol Academy
Nickname(s)	Saints
Founded	2009; 15 years ago (2009)
Stadium	L'Amoreaux Park Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario
Owner	Junior Groves
Head Coach	Giuseppe Mattace-Raso
League	League1 Ontario
2023	League1 Ontario, 19th Playoffs: DNQ
Website	Club website
Current season

The club was one of the ten original founding men's teams in League1 Ontario, which was established in 2014. Their team initially competed under the name Master's FA Saints.^[1]

History

In 2009, Master's Futbol Academy was founded by Junior Groves.^[2][3] In 2014, the semi-professional club was established to play in the newly formed League1 Ontario as one of the founding members.^[4][5] They were one of the three Ontario Soccer Association Recognized Non-Club Academies permitted to enter a team in the league, along with ANB Futbol and Sigma FC.^[6] The club played their debut match on May 31, 2014 against the Cataraqui Clippers, winning 3–0.^[7] In their inaugural season, they finished in seventh place.^[8]

Their most successful season came in 2019, when they won the 2019 League1 Ontario playoffs, defeating FC London 4–1 in the finals.^[9] This victory qualified the club for the Canadian Championship for the first time in 2020.^[10][11] However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, their participation was shifted to the 2021 Canadian Championship.^[12] In the match in 2021, they were defeated by Canadian Premier League club York United FC in the preliminary round by a score of 5-0.^[13]

Squad

As of 16 April 2023^[14]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK   CAN Spiridon Koskinas — DF   CAN Tim Mahabir — DF   CAN Tyler Miranda — DF   CAN Terrell Spencer — DF   CAN Anthony Wright — MF   CAN Jason Alvarado — MF   CAN Francis Ameyaw — MF   CAN Marc-Anthoy Blackburn — MF   CAN Timothy Cordova — MF   GUY Maleik de Freitas — MF   CAN Julius Dominelli — MF   CAN Triston Frankston

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF   CAN Eric Romeo Mian — MF   CAN Stefan Nikolic — MF   CAN Zion Richards — MF   CAN Gianpiero Sansonetti — MF   CAN Yasin Shahwan — FW   CAN Devonte Brown — FW   CAN Justin Robertson — FW   CAN Eric Savvas —   CAN Carmine Anthony-Martino —   CAN Ian Gutierrez —   CAN D'Quan Smith

Seasons

Season	League	Teams	Record	Rank	Playoffs	League Cup	Canadian Championship	Ref
2014	League1 Ontario	9	5–2–9	7th	–	Group stage	Not eligible	^[15]
2015		12	1–3–18	12th	–	Group stage	Not eligible	^[15]
2016		16	3–2–17	8th, Eastern (16th overall)	did not qualify	Runner-up	Not eligible	^[15]
2017		16	9–3–10	5th, Eastern (9th overall)	did not qualify	Quarter-finals	Not eligible	^[15]
2018		17	4–7–5	10th	did not qualify	Quarter-finals	did not qualify	^[15]
2019		16	9–3–3	4th	Champions	–	did not qualify	^[15]
2020		Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic					Moved to 2021	^[16]
2021		15	6–3–3	2nd, East (5th overall)	Semi-finals	–	Preliminary Round
2022		22	4–5–12	19th	did not qualify	–	did not qualify
2023		21	4–2–14	19th	did not qualify	–	did not qualify

Notable former players

The following players have either played at the professional or international level, either before or after playing for the League1 Ontario team:

•   Shaquille Agard
•   Shawn Brown
•   Kiril Dimitrov
•   Richard Edwards
•   Sherwin Emmanuel
•   Sam Gardner
•   Evan James
•   Levonte Johnson
•   Allando Matheson
•   Joey Melo
•   Jaime Peters
•   Reshon Phillip
•   Akeem Priestley
•   Tyrell Rayne
•   Rohan Ricketts
•   Cyrus Rollocks
•   Elijah Seymour
•   C. J. Smith

Honours

• League1 Ontario Championship (1): 2019

References

1. Meertins, Tyrrell (May 29, 2014). "Introducing Master's FA". League1 Ontario.
2. "History of Master's Futbol Academy". Master's FA.
3. Thompson, Marty (February 27, 2021). "'Nobody has built this before': The incredible story of Master's FA's 2019 title". League1 Ontario.
4. . Canadian Soccer Association. April 8, 2014. Archived from the original on July 4, 2020.
5. . Ontario Soccer Association. April 8, 2014. Archived from the original on May 18, 2014.
6. Hayakawa, Michael (April 10, 2014). "Vaughan to field 2 teams in inaugural soccer league". Vaughan Citizen.
7. Meertins, Tyrrell (June 2, 2014). "Master's FA Saints 3 - Cataraqui Clippers 0". League1 Ontario.
8. "A Bluffer's Guide to Master's FA". League1 Ontario. November 3, 2022.
9. Vanderhoeven, Paul (September 28, 2019). "FC London battles to the finish in League1 championship loss to Scarborough Masters". The London Free Press.
10. Jacques, John (September 28, 2019). "Master's Futbol Academy Wins League1 Ontario For The First Time". Northern Tribune.
11. "12 teams from four leagues to contest 2020 Canadian Championship". Sportsnet. December 18, 2019.
12. Thompson, Marty (June 16, 2020). "Masters FA moved from amended 2020 CanChamp, will play in 2021 edition". League1 Ontario.
13. O'Connor-Clarke, Charlie (August 21, 2021). "RECAP: York United advance in CanChamp with dominant 5-0 win over Master's FA". Canadian Premier League.
14. "Master's FA". League 1 Ontario.
15. "League1 Ontario Historical Standings Men's Division". Canadian Soccer History Archives.
16. "League1 Ontario cancels Fall season plans for 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions". Canadian Premier League. September 4, 2020.