Two soccer players with Edmonton roots will anchor the roster of the city’s new professional soccer team, set to hit the pitch next spring.
FC Edmonton announced Thursday that Randy Edwini-Bonsu and Allan Zebie are the first players signed to the team.
“This is Edmonton’s team,” said Jeff Paulus, the club’s head coach and director of soccer operations. “We want to have an Edmontonian personality.”
The pair will help lead the team when it plays in the Canadian Premier League’s inaugural season, which starts in 2019.
Edwini-Bonsu and Zebie will offer soccer skills and leadership and help showcase the possibilities of professional soccer in the city, Paulus said, especially to young players coming up through the FC Edmonton Academy.
“I’ve always said that we have so much talent in Edmonton. This is a chance to show that, to prove that, to put my money where my mouth is and give Edmontonians a chance to play.”
Edwinin-Bonsu moved to Edmonton from his native Ghana at the age of 12. He has played for the Vancouver Whitecaps, and spent much of the last decade playing in Europe.
We have so much talent in Edmonton. This is a chance to show that.– Jeff Paulus , FC Edmonton head coach and director of soccer operations
“I left the city before (this) club was founded,” he said at the news conference announcing his signing. “It means something to me to come back home and represent my city.”
After playing in Europe for nine years, Edwini-Bonsu said he was ready to come home.
“I want to play for my family and friends again, and I want to think about my life after soccer. And coming home would set me up for that, to start planning for that.”
Zebie was born in France. He moved to Edmonton as a teenager and went through FC Edmonton Academy before first signing with the club in 2015.
“It will be good to have a Canadian league to develop Canadian players,” he said.
After a year on the sidelines, professional soccer will return to the city when FC Edmonton plays its inaugural season in the new, seven-team Canadian Premier League.
The club went on hiatus last fall due to low game attendance while playing in the North American Soccer League.
The new league will feature teams with rosters that are made up of at least 50 per cent Canadian players. FC Edmonton expects to announce more player signings as it gets closer to the start of the season.