CF Montréal’s Reserve Team Kicks off Its Second Season in Ligue1 Québec

May 3, 2023 – Major League Soccer (MLS) – Club de Foot Montreal News Release

MONTREAL – The CF Montréal reserve team will play its second season in Ligue1 Québec (ex-PLSQ) in 2023. The 22-game regular season will start this weekend and end on September 30.

The 11 home games will be played at Centre Nutrilait and will be open to the public free of charge. Following the first game of the season in St-Hubert this Sunday, the team will play its home opener in Montreal on Saturday, May 13, at 2:30pm against the Celtix du Haut-Richelieu.

With a group of 26 players aged between 17 and 20, head coach Patrick Viollat and his assistant Sylvain Hascoët will rely on key players such as defender Loïc Cloutier and midfielder Abdel-Malick Daouda, both of whom were called up this winter during the first team’s training camp.

12 new players were added to the roster, while 14 players will play their second season in the Quebec league. Also, among a group with 13 different nationalities, 15 of them are from Quebec, including nine players from Montreal. Two new players, Costa Iliadis and Jaylen Vilsaint, have their brothers, Ilias Iliadis and Jules-Anthony Vilsaint, playing in the senior squad.

“The Academy’s primary goal is to promote players to the first team,” said head coach Patrick Viollat. “We have a good relationship with the pros and more and more of our players are exposed to the professional level by regularly participating in training sessions with the first team. The group faced very good teams during our long preseason. We made have great progress already, so this bodes well for the beginning of the championship. It is a high-performance league conducive to young player development and I am really looking forward to facing the best experienced players in the province.”

The reserve team’s preparation began in January and included matches against university teams, MLS NEXT PRO teams (New England Revolution 2, New York Red Bulls 2 and Toronto FC 2) and Canadian Premier League teams (Atletico Ottawa and York United).

“We are very excited to start this second season among the elite of Quebec soccer,” said Academy Director Marinos Papageorgopoulos. “We have a group of young players with a lot of potential and we are eager to see them develop during this competition which is the best in the province. The experience they gain will be essential in their journeys towards professional careers and ultimately to join the first team.”

Ligue1 Québec is the province’s…