Vaughan, ON – As the Indoor Soccer season comes to a close, Ontario Soccer is excited to shift focus to the 2024 Outdoor Season, which will be highlighted by a significant milestone. Proudly supported by its Premier Partners, Toronto FC and the Canadian Premier League, Ontario Soccer is announcing #OPDL10, a campaign that will celebrate a successful ten years of the Ontario Player Development League (OPDL) through various digital and in-person marketing activations throughout the 2024 Outdoor Season.
Launched in 2014 with the 2001 age group, the OPDL is the province’s first standards-based, youth high-performance program that combines top-level competition with strict high-performance training standards. This innovative, exciting boys and girls high-performance program is an important component of the overall ongoing legacy movement to adopt the core principles of Long Term Player Development (LTPD) across soccer at-large in Ontario and Canada. OPDL encompasses the U13 to U17 age categories.
Those interested can expect to see #OPDL10 manifested throughout soccer communities in Ontario in the form of event-space takeovers featuring fun games, contests, branding overhauls and more. These activations will be centered around the OPDL’s Central Venue Weekends with a #OPDL10 Anniversary Party also planned at the Zanchin Automotive Soccer Centre in Vaughan, Ontario. You can also expect to see #OPDL10 on the digital spaces where we’ll be sharing content and telling stories of all those who have been involved with the OPDL from its inception, to present day, including those who advanced along the Talented Pathway and have now reached the pinnacle of the game on the world stage.
To illustrate and encapsulate this milestone celebration, a special commemorative 10th anniversary OPDL logo made its debut across Ontario Soccer’s digital channels today. The anniversary logo will act as the umbrella under which compelling and inspirational OPDL spotlight stories as well as engaging community events are presented.
“Two years ago, Ontario Soccer commissioned an in-depth long-term examination of the OPDL – led by Capitis Consulting – which confirmed the program is achieving its main objectives,” said Matt Ferreira, Ontario Soccer’s Director of Development. “The report also confirmed the success of the OPDL and LTPD, as evidenced by the increasing number of OPDL players advancing to the Provincial Xcel program, Toronto FC Academy, Canada Soccer’s National Development Centre (NDC) and, furthermore, the increase of Ontario players representing Canada Soccer’s National Teams.”
“As we get set to celebrate 10 years of the OPDL, we must single out the contributions of the late Gary Miller, Ontario Soccer’s former Director of Soccer Operations who tragically passed away in 2020, said Johnny Misley, Ontario Soccer’s CEO. “Gary was an invaluable member of the soccer community, having held multiple positions at Ontario Soccer, Canada Soccer and a number of other influential organizations over his illustrious career – and more notable in relation to today’s announcement – Gary, along with the Technical Advisory Committee, were a key group who spearheaded the creation of the OPDL and their contributions will never be forgotten.”
Specific details around #OPDL10 activities will be released throughout the 2024 Outdoor Season as they become available.
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Media Contact
Ben Lungo
Manager, Digital Strategy and Communications
Ontario Soccer
blungo@ontariosoccer.net | 905-264-9390 x 255