North York Academy

Toronto’s Premier Soccer Development Program

North York Academy trains athletes to realize their highest potential as soccer players.

North York Academy (formerly known as North York FC) is a soccer academy located in the heart of Toronto. Our Academy is an Ontario Recognized Academy and a Toronto Soccer Association associate member. North York Academy is a soccer development program focusing on the individual player and trains athletes to realize their highest potential as soccer players.

North York Academy is community-based programming serving players from all over the City of Toronto and the greater Toronto area. Our quality program also attracts players from North America and around the world.

North York Academy strives to achieve the highest standards of soccer development through intense, high-quality training. Our main objective is to help players master the skills required to be a dynamic, confident, and integral part of their team. With hard work, dedication, and the right coaching, the sky is the limit for players.

We focus on three primary areas of development: individual technical skills, game strategy, and offensive tactics. Expanding a players repertoire in these key aspects of the game allows for greater confidence and quicker decision-making when faced with challenges on the pitch.

Realizing each players individual potential requires the coach to constantly be assessing strengths, weaknesses, and individual progress. Our philosophy includes using meaningful feedback and mottos of motivation rather than criticism, and modifying the program to help each of our playersdevelopment.

Players need to have the desire to push their limits, the perseverance to continue, and the courage to learn from their mistakes. Our club promotes active participation, team work, healthy eating and fair play. We take a holistic approach to each player and strive to develop them technically, physically, mentally and emotionally.

Through their hard work, our players build character and self-esteem that will benefit them in all areas of their lives. We are committed to guiding our players every step of the way, ensuring they reach their full potential, both on and off the pitch.

Coaching Staff

Bryan Cerqueira

Director of Coaching

Fábio Roque

Fabio Roque works closely with coaching and technical staff to ensure that the North York vision is being implemented at each age level. The aim is to build championship-caliber teams. He will also work with players individually in our PDP program.

Fabio Roque previously served as a coach for Sporting Lisbon’s professional academy in Portugal for the last 12 years. The Sporting Academy is ranked top three in the world for developing top talents including Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Figo, and Nani to name a few. He holds a UEFA B coaching license. Roque received his Degree in Physical Education and Sports at Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias in Lisbon. He is also enrolled in the Ontario Soccer Technical Director course starting in March.

High Performance Assistant Cooach

Duran Lee

Duran Lee will be assistant coaching the U21 OSL team as well as working in the soccer school program and PDP.

During his playing career, Duran earned himself a NCAA D1 opportunity with UCONN and UMASS Lowell. After playing in the NCAA, Duran went on to play in the Canadian Premier League for Halifax Wanderers, FC Edmonton and Pacific FC. In the 21/22 season he was CPL champion with Pacific FC. Most recently he played for Des Moines in the USL 2.

Matt Weir

Matt Weir is a member of the technical coaching staff for the High-Performance Men’s Teams. With a vast playing background and coming up to 5 years of coaching experience from both recreational and community volunteer programs to more competitive senior-level teams, Matt has the experience and expertise to elevate the standard of training within the group. Currently in training for the Canadian C-
License, having already completed all of Canada Soccer’s Coaching Education pre-requisite courses, Matt is also looking to further his qualifications within the UEFA ranks by pursuing the UEFA C-License, as he is currently completing all pre-requisite coursework through the SFA.

Head coach of the U16 II team

Andres Rumie

Andres Rumie will be a head coach of the U16 II team and assistant coach of the NYA OSL II team.
As a player, Andres played for Real Cartagena Academy in his home country of Colombia. He completed his journalism degree and had the opportunity to interview some relevan Colombian soccer players such as Yerri Mina, Luis Diaz, Miguel Borja.
Coaching Licenses: currently enrolled in the C License, Making Headway, Coaching soccer in Canada, Respect in Soccer/Sports, Learn to Train, Making Ethical Decisions, Anti Racism in Coaching, NCCP Emergency Action Plan, Mental Health in Sport, First Aid, CPR level C certificate, Talent identification and EE Playmaker with the English Football Association, Talent identification Level 1 and 2 for the Professional Scouting Association and Performance Analysis, Data Analysis, Opposition Analysis and Technical Scouting Level 1s with the Professional Scouting Association

Francesco Argento

Francesco Argento has been involved with the game for over 25 years, as a player and a coach within the highest levels of Canadian Soccer. As a player, he played at the top youth level OYSL with North York Astros and in the United States and Europe. Francesco has been coaching house league and rep teams between the ages of 8-13 and has an array of technical and tactical skills at his disposal. Apart from his experience, Francesco has completed a variety of Canada Soccer Grassroots Coaching Education Courses, including Learn to Train, Soccer for Life, Ethical Decisions, Making Head Way in Soccer and Respect in Soccer. He is also trained in Adult, Infant and Child CPR/ AED.

Paolo Rogato

Paolo Rogato has a distinguished soccer career, as a player and as a coach. Having played at every level of the youth provincial pathway in Ontario. At the youth level, he has won the Ontario Cup, and OYSL League and took part in various US showcases and international tournaments. He also has experience playing abroad, having played for Vicenza Calcio in Italy during his U-17 year. He won the League 1 Ontario and CCAA National Championship with Sheridan Bruins at the senior and collegiate levels. He currently has his NCCP Respect in Sport Certificate, Mental Health in Scottish Football Certificate, and Children’s Wellbeing in Scottish Football Certificate with an aim to complete his Ontario C license. Paolo is currently a member of the Technical Coaching staff at NYA.

John Lino

John’s coaching career began in 2012 as a volunteer coach for the Timbits soccer program for kids aged 4-6 at THPFC. In 2018, he became Head Coach of the Boys 2009 team at Academy Gil Vicente FC. He held the position until 2021, at which point he joined North York Academy. He is currently Assistant Head Coach for the Boys 2008 and 2010 teams, and the House League program. John has completed a variety of Canada Soccer Grassroots Coaching Education Courses, including Fundamentals, Learn to Train, Soccer for Life, Making Ethical Decisions, and Respect in Sport.

Samson Ebikeme

Tanya Cerqueira

Kanye Charles

Fitness Trainer

Raquel

Recently graduated from the University of Guelph-Humber kinesiology program, Raquel is a registered exercise practitioner and will be running the fitness program at NYA.

Miguel Angel Valentin

Miguel has over five years of experience as an analyst at Deportivo Cali. He started as an analyst for the academy, and was later promoted to the main team and the women’s team. In 2021, Miguel’s team were crowned Colombian champions with both the men’s and women’s team. Miguel also has a CONMEBOL analyst license, along with a degree in sports from Escuela Nacional del Deporte in Cali., specializing in sports training.

Ezio Fortino

Head coach of 2005 Girls & 2016 Boys

Miguel Gomes

Head coach of 2009 & 2010 Boys

Goalkeeper Staff

High Performance Goalkeeper Coach

Maxim Agapov

Maxim has been with North York Academy since Fall 2019. As a youth player in Kyrgyz Republic, Max completed all the stages of player development. He began competing from U13 on the National team and continued at all levels of youth national teams including and up to U19, which was the first team in the history of Kyrgyz Republic to represent the country at the Asian Cup final stage. After that Max signed a   professional contract. He continued to play for the national team until the age of 28 when he moved to Canada and began to play in League One.

Goalkeeping Assistant Coach

Simao

Recently graduated from @wilfridlaurieruni Kinesiology and Physical Education program, Simao will be assisting in the NYA goalkeeper program.

NYA Facilities

York University – York Lions Stadium 

Originally built for the 2015 Pan American and Parapan American Games, York Lions Stadium is a state-of-the-art LEED-certified sport and athletics complex located on the Keele Campus of York University. In addition to hosting several track-and-field competitions, including the 2017 Invictus Games and 2017 North American Indigenous Games, York Lions Stadium is home to the York Lions (York University’s varsity teams), the Toronto Arrows (Major League Rugby), Toronto FC II (MLS NXT PRO) and York United FC (Canadian Premier League). In 2021, the stadium’s original natural grass playing field was expanded in size and replaced with a FIFA Quality Pro Certified artificial turf surface, suitable for world-class sporting events.

York University – Alumni Field 

Home of the 2014 & 2015 U-SPORT Champion York Lions Men’s Soccer Team, Alumni Stadium is lined for Soccer, Football, and Field Hockey.  Alumni Stadium also played host to the 2015 and 2017 Toronto Argonauts training camps.  Constructed in 1995, the field was upgraded in 2013 to a FieldTurf One-Star FIFA rated turf, one of the best available playing surfaces.

Earlscourt Park (North Field)

CANoe LANDING

Hudson College

Hudson College Athletic Field

LAMPORT STADIUM

Bishop Strachan School

DE LA SALLE

North York Football Club
Toronto, ON, Canada
M6G 3A7

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