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France
Women's U-20
The Calgary Callies won the Alberta Soccer Association’s adidas Golden Shoe Award as the province’s team of the year. The Callies won the award after collecting yet another gold medal at the 2008 BMO National Championships. The Callies have now won the Challenge Trophy in the senior men’s club competition four of the last nine years. The Callies were honoured at the Alberta Soccer Association Annual General Meeting. The event took place 16-18 January at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel in Banff, AB. Other weekend award winners were referee Sal Romano for the Golden Whistle, volunteer Ivan Magdee for the Shield of Merit, Rob Savard for the Award of Merit, the Calgary Spirit Classics for the Fairplay award, Colin Innes for the President’s Award, Mike Traficante for the Life membership award, and outgoing ASA president Fred Kern for the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Alberta Soccer Association honoured two of its past presidents on Saturday, renaming its two senior club provincial trophies after Mike Traficante and Fred Kern. The new men’s trophy will bear the name Mike Traficante Cup while the new women’s trophy will bear the name Fred Kern Shield.
Mr. Traficante, a director at large on the Canadian Soccer Association’s executive committee, was the Alberta Soccer Association president from 2003-04. Mr. Kern followed him with a term from 2005-08. Mr. Kern was succeeded this year by incoming president Chris Billings.
Canada sits ninth within CONCACAF in the first FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings of the 2009 season. USA, meanwhile, maintained the top spot for the fourth-consecutive month with Mexico and Honduras in second and third place. The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings looks at each country’s international results from the last four years. The ranking takes into account the result, the importance of the match, the strength of the opponent, the regional strength, the time period, and the number of matches per year.
The British Columbia Soccer Association announced its 2008 winners at the annual awards banquet on Saturday night. Defender Robbie Veenhof was named Senior Athlete of the Year while defender Derrick Bassi was named Youth Athlete of the Year.
Other award winners were Senior Official Michelle Pye, Youth Official Matthew Wynne, Senior Coach Julius Karpati, Youth Coach Spiro Pegios and Administrator Noel Estacio. Ron Joseph won the Presidents award, Joe Jhutty won the AC Sanford award, Alan Churchard was named a Life Member, and Jan Cox, Don Mangano, Chris Paige and Cees van Delft received Awards of Merit.
The Canadian Soccer Association announced today that Julian de Guzman is the male selection for the 2008 adidas Canadian Players of the Year award. De Guzman was honoured in a vote shared by Canadian media (50%) and Canadian coaches who have taken the Canadian Soccer Association’s national course at the B and A levels (50%).
De Guzman of Scarborough, ON wins the award for the first time. His co-winner Christine Sinclair of Burnaby, BC – announced yesterday – is a four-time winner of the prize.
The Canadian Soccer Association announced today that Christine Sinclair is the female selection for the 2008 adidas Canadian Players of the Year award. Sinclair was honoured in a vote shared by Canadian media (50%) and Canadian coaches who have taken the Canadian Soccer Association’s national course at the B and A levels (50%).
Sinclair is a member of Canada’s national team whose title sponsor is Winners and whose presenting sponsor is Teck. Her 2008 co-winner – the selection from the men’s national team – will be announced on Friday.
The Canadian Soccer Association announced today that Nana Attakora-Gyan and Jonelle Filigno have been named Canadian U-20 Players of the Year for the 2008 soccer season. The two stars were honoured in a vote shared by national-team coaches (50%) and Canadian coaches who have taken the Canadian Soccer Association’s national course at the B and A levels (50%).
Attakora-Gyan is a member of the Canadian U-20 team that has begun preparations for next year’s CONCACAF Men’s Under-20 Championship. He took part in all three U-20 camps, the first of which featured the anniversary rematch against Argentina at BMO Field in Toronto (a 1:1 draw on 11 May).
Canadian teenagers Russell Teibert and Monica Lam-Feist have been named Canadian U-17 Players of the Year for the 2008 soccer season. The two stars were honoured in a vote shared by national-team coaches (50%) and Canadian coaches who have taken the Canadian Soccer Association’s national course at the B and A levels (50%).
Teibert is a member of the BMO Financial Group – Canadian men’s U-17 team. He took part in the Canadian team’s first camp in November as the team began preparations for the 2009 CONCACAF Men’s Under-17 Championship. He started the 2008 season as a member of the Canadian Soccer Association’s National Training Centre in Ontario, but also played briefly for TFC Academy’s U-16 side. In August, he joined the Vancouver Whitecaps residency program; in December, he traveled with the Whitecaps FC Residency squad to Japan.
Fans can email their Fans’ Choices to rscott@soccercan.ca.
No rhyme or reason is required – fans are simply asked to vote for their favourite players. Fans have up until 9 January to make their vote for their favourite male and female soccer players from the 2008 season. Fans can email their Fans’ Choices to rscott@soccercan.ca.
After 9 January, CanadaSoccer.com will announce the two Fans’ Choices for the 2008 season. The two winners will not only have their headshots captured in the next edition of the adidas Boot Room, but they will also help reward two lucky fans with a Canada jersey and autographed postcard.
