21.01.2022
PERSISTENCE PAYS OFF - CANADA PROVES TO BE A HUB FOR TALENT

In 2014, Sebastian Schächter, the CEO of Schächter Sports, and Jake Doodnath, the director of the Canadian club “Toronto Skillz”, did something remarkable. They signed a contract between the companies, focusing on the development of Canadian talents and creating a pathway to Germany. Trough that, “Toronto Skillz” became our first international partner, many more followed the years after.

For the first 3 years Schächter Sports was working onsite in Toronto to get the players ready for European football. In 2017 it was finally time, the first group of players flew over to Germany to compete in games and training sessions. Through hard work and determination, the first Canadian player was quickly able to join a German top academy. Motivated by the individual success, both parties started to work even harder and had the next story to tell in 2020, where Robert Balaban was able to join the U17 team of SV Elversberg, which, at the end of the season, got promoted to the 1st division.

The news traveled through all of Canada, which resulted in Oliver Herbert from Vancouver joining the strong U19 of FK Pirmasens in the year 2021. But he was not the only one, two more players from our partner in Toronto made it into the U19 2nd division in Germany. Where Elijah Manchester had a great first half-season developing at our fantastic partner in Hauenstein, joining FC Homburg in Winter, Michael Weiland joined the U19 of the upcoming Bavarian club Viktoria Aschaffenburg, leaving his first footprints.

This is another proof for the untapped talent that slumbers in Canada but is also a result of the hard work on the pitch. Many flights overseas, many sessions run by Schächter Sports coaches and a lot of sweat on the pitch helped these players reaching their goal. Seeing the hard work of the past years bearing fruits and the players from Canada fulfilling their potential in one of the best football nations makes us very proud and motivates us even more so we can keep creating these stories.

It shows one more time, that talent is everywhere, you just need the right people on your path.