FC Edmonton is one kick closer to taking to the pitch as they announced their player roster and exhibition schedule for the 2010 season yesterday.
“We’re just playing the five North American teams this year,” said owner Tom Fath. “We’re having a shorter season because we’re building the team this year and that will make it exciting.”
The pro soccer team will have an international feel to go along with some local flavour when they line up for their first official exhibition game against the Montreal Impact on June 16.
Fifteen of the FC Edmonton players are from Alberta — seven from Edmonton — and one player hails from Winnipeg. The rest of the squad comes from the Netherlands and Brazil.
“These (three Dutch) players are brought in to be veteran players and help solidify the club,” said Mel Kowalchuk, the club’s GM.
“But we made no bones about favouring Prairie kids in particular and that’s where the basis of our team comes from.”
FC Edmonton will play five games at Foote Field this season starting with the Impact. More international games are in the works and the team hopes to announce those matches in a week or two.
“We’re also working on some international matches that seem to take forever to put together,” Fath said. “We have two or three that are pretty well signed up and we should be announcing in the next week to 10 days.”
Tickets for the exhibition home games go on sale this morning at 9 a.m.
Order them over the phone at 780-439-7529. Fans can also send in their information online at www.fcedmonton.com.
