Hellas SC win their fourth Manitoba Cup provincial title

Former national champions Winnipeg Hellas SC won their fourth Manitoba Cup provincial title on Saturday 28 July after they won 3-2 on kicks to beat the FC Winnipeg Lions FC. The two sides were even 2:2 after 120 minutes before Hellas SC won on kicks to win the 2024 MSA Cup and qualify for the Toyota National Championships.

Hellas SC are the fourth team to qualify for the men’s Challenge Trophy competition at this year’s Toyota National Championships. They join Coquitlam Metro-Ford SC from British Columbia, Whitehorse Yukon Selects FC from Yukon, and Winsloe-Charlottetown Royals FC from Prince Edward Island. The Toyota National Championships run 9 to 14 October in Surrey, British Columbia (men’s Challenge Trophy and women’s Jubilee Trophy), Cape Breton, Nova Scotia (U-17 Cup), and Quinte West, Ontario (U-15 Cup).

It marked the second time in three years that Hellas SC beat FC Winnipeg Lions on kicks in the MSA Cup Final (2022, 2024). Hellas previously won the MSA Cup in 2008 and 2009 and they won the Challenge Trophy in 2009. FC Winnipeg Lions were the defending provincial winners after they won their 13th provincial title in 2023.

This year, Canada Soccer will welcome a record 105 qualified teams to its national amateur competitions in 2024 across the Futsal Canadian Championship (April), Player-Development Program Championship (August) and Toyota National Championships (October). The 107 qualified teams will come from a group of more than 800 amateur teams competing in men’s and women’s divisions in the adult, U-17 and U-15 categories from September 2023 through October 2024.

Schedules and qualified teams for all of Canada Soccer’s 2024 national amateur competitions can be seen at canadasoccer.com/competitions.