FC Supra du Quebec set for CPL debut with a homegrown roster: 'Our biggest strength'

Daniel Rainbird · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Apr 10, 2026 6:28 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 minute ago

Jesse Marsch called Moise Bombito's late discovery "unacceptable" two summers ago.

The Montreal-born centre back had finally made it to where he belonged — as a member of the Canadian men's national team — but the situation echoed a long-standing problem in Quebec.

One that FC Supra du Quebec is trying to fix.

Without a clear pathway to higher levels in the soccer world, homegrown athletes like Bombito have often gone overlooked or underdeveloped in the province.

"A lot of talented players fell through the cracks, and that's because we didn't have enough of a professional environment for these players," FC Supra president Rocco Placentino said. "That's exactly what Supra is going to prove. We're going to try not to miss this hidden talent."

FC Supra opens its inaugural Canadian Premier League season Saturday in Victoria when the expansion club based in Laval, Que., faces Pacific FC with a squad made entirely of Quebecois players.

The model draws inspiration from Athletic Bilbao, a top-flight Spanish club that has long limited itself to local talent from the Basque Country.

"Quebec-grown players, it's always been something that I personally believed in," Placentino said. "We use examples like Ismael Kone, Moise Bombito that are perfect examples of that, and we really believe that there's more of those types of players to come."

A player the well-travelled Marsch — head coach of Canada's men's team — has likened to some of the world's top defenders, Bombito didn't receive a national call-up at any level until age 23.

Now with OGC Nice in France, the fleet-footed centre back came through Quebec's amateur system before turning to the U.S. college route to reach the pros.

"It is unacceptable that a player like Moise Bombito is not discovered until he's 23," Marsch said in July 2024 after the player broke out for Canada at Copa America. "We have to find a way as a Canadian soccer community, how to create better infrastructure."

Creating 'clearer path to pros'

FC Supra coach Nicholas Razzaghi has watched talents fade away.

The former coach of semi-pro side CS Saint-Laurent — a club also run by Placentino — said FC Supra is filled with players he believed might have called it quits just two years ago.

"Their careers were pretty much hanging on a thread. This was it for them, and they felt that, too," he said. "Guys were going back to school, guys were considering, can they still play at this level and commit this much to soccer?

"I've seen it in front of my face, I've lived it with these guys, and to be here is unreal — but there's so many more players that fell through the cracks. We 'saved' some, but how many we couldn't 'save'? How many players didn't get just that chance? At least now, the minimum is people get a chance."

Placentino said FC Supra is building close connections with community clubs across the province, with staff to regularly attend Ligue1 Quebec games. Eventually, he envisions the CPL franchise with a reserve team and an academy.

FC Supra captain David Choiniere was so intrigued by the project that he chose to sign with the expansion club after seven trophy-filled CPL seasons with the dynastic Forge FC.

Choiniere came up through the CF Montreal — then Montreal Impact — academy and eventually graduated to the first team, limited to five MLS appearances over three seasons due to an ankle injury before moving to Forge in 2019.

He believes FC Supra provides up-and-coming talents a clearer path to the pros, without having to relocate outside the province.

"Growing up there were not a lot of opportunities or pathways to go professional. In my case, I went to the Montreal academy, that was the only way really to make it," he said. "(FC Supra) will increase the chance of the Quebecois players to make the jump."

To be eligible for the roster, players must be born or raised in Quebec, have recently moved to the province, or have played in its amateur system.

"If you were with CF Montreal for the last three, four, five years and you're not from Quebec that does fit the criteria," Placentino added. "I can tell you that we've refused over 300 players to come to try out with our club. From Spain, from Germany, from England, from Haiti, from everywhere.

"Even if you're from Toronto, even if you're from Vancouver, even if you're from Ottawa, if you don't have something rooted to Quebec, you can't play for us."

The limited player pool brings inherent disadvantages, but Placentino is committed to this route in the "early stages" to see if FC Supra's formula is fruitful.

"Just like Atletico Bilbao did a hundred years ago. They tried it and it took time, but it worked," he said. "I really believe that we can make it work, and we'll see in Year 1 what it brings us."

Choiniere, meanwhile, believes the all-Quebec roster rule is an advantage.

"You guys are going to see that there's a lot of talent in Quebec," he said. "People can say the pool selection is smaller, but that's also our strength. When you go in the locker room, everybody speaks in French.

"We have different backgrounds, but we all have something in common, and that's our biggest strength."