Canada Soccer unveils player medals for inaugural PDP Championship

Canada Soccer has unveiled the player medals for the inaugural edition of the Player-Development Program Championship which will be distributed to the top-three teams in four divisions at the PDP U-17 Cup (boys and girls) and PDP U-15 Cup (boys and girls). The medals feature Canada Soccer’s PDP Championship logo and will be awarded in gold, silver and bronze. Up to 26 medals will be presented to each of the 12 teams that finish in either first-, second- or third-place on the last day of the competition.

The 2024 Player-Development Program Championship runs from 14 to 18 August in Edmonton, Alberta with tickets now available for purchase at https://www.universe.com/events/player-development-program-championship-tickets-9D6BQP. Admission to youth (17 years or younger) and seniors (60 years or older) is free.

On the Sunday Finals Day, medals will be presented at four separate PDP Championship award ceremonies, one for each of the four divisions. Each division’s award ceremony will take place after the division’s Final with medals presented to the referees from the Final as well as the players and staff from the top-three teams, the MVP Award presented to the Most Valuable Player from the winning team, and both the Winners’ Trophy and Pennant presented to the winning team. A special photo session after the ceremony will ensure that each champion gets their photo taken with the Winners’ Trophy.

Ahead of the opening matches, players from all 28 teams will receive a commemorative PDP Championship pin while all the referees will receive a commemorative medallion. The commemorative pins along with Gatorade water bottles and Alberta Soccer gift bags will be available to teams in attendance at the Official Pre-Competition meeting on Tuesday 13 August.

Before the opening matches kick off on Wednesday morning, the official Opening Ceremonies start at 09.00 at the Bill Gilhespy Soccer Complex. The Opening Ceremonies will feature a guest speaker as well as artistic performances. The first two matches in the Boys’ PDP U-15 Cup kick off at 10.15 local time.

In all, 50 matches will be played across the four divisions at the Bill Gilhespy Soccer Complex, with the four championship matches played in succession on Sunday 18 August. The 28 participating teams have qualified from a pool of 155 youth teams competing in the U-17 and U-15 age groups through the BC Soccer Premier League, the Alberta Player Development League, the Ontario Player-Development League, and the Québec Youth Soccer Premier League (Première Ligue de Soccer Juvénile du Québec).