Maksym Danylo Kowal (born June 4, 1991) is a Canadian professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player who plays as a forward for Alliance United FC in

League1 Ontario League1 Ontario (L1ON) is a semi-professional men's soccer league in Ontario, Canada. The league is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Ontario Soccer Association. League1 Ontario consists of three tiers – League1 Premier ...

Early life

Kowal was born in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, growing up in nearby

Mississauga, Ontario Mississauga is a Canadian city in the province of Ontario. Situated on the north-western shore of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, it borders Toronto (Etobicoke) to the east, Brampton to the north, Milton to the northwest, ...

and is of Ukrainian descent. He began playing youth soccer with USC Karpaty, later moving to the Erin Mills Eagles at U14 level.

Club career

College and Semi-pro

Kowal attended the

University at Buffalo The State University of New York at Buffalo (commonly referred to as UB, University at Buffalo, and sometimes SUNY Buffalo) is a public university, public research university in Buffalo, New York, Buffalo and Amherst, New York, United States. ...

beginning in 2009 and played for the

soccer team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an all-s ...

. During his college tenure he played in the

USL Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States, forming part of the United States soccer league system. The league will featu ...

with Des Moines Menace and Toronto Lynx.

England

In 2013, he went abroad to England, first joining

non-league Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

club Barnstaple Town F.C. Afterwards, he joined Tiverton Town F.C. He then joined eighth tier Carlton Town F.C.

Poland

In 2015, he joined Polish second-tier club

Widzew Łódź RTS Widzew Łódź () is a Polish football (soccer), football club based in Łódź. The club was founded in 1910. Its official colours are red and white, hence their nicknames ''Czerwona Armia'' (Red Army) and ''Czerwono-biało-czerwoni'' (Red-wh ...

in the

I liga I liga (, ), currently named Betclic I liga due to its sponsorship by Betclic, is the men's second professional association football division of the Polish football league system, below the Ekstraklasa and above the II liga via promotion/rel ...

, however, due to procedural reasons with having arrived from a non-professional club, he was unable to be registered to be eligible for league matches. Widzew was relegated at the end of the season and went bankrupt and was relegated to the fifth tier, and subsequently, in July 2015, Kowal joined third-tier club

Raków Częstochowa Robotniczy Klub Sportowy Raków Częstochowa Spółka Akcyjna (commonly referred to as Raków Częstochowa, or simply Raków) is a Polish professional football club, based in Częstochowa, that competes in the Ekstraklasa, the top tier of natio ...

in the

II liga II liga (Druga liga, ), currently named Betclic II liga due to its sponsorship by Betclic, is a Polish football league that sits at the third tier of the Polish football league system. Until the end of the 2007–08 season, ''II Liga'' referre ...

. In February 2016, he joined Olimpia Zambrów on a six-month loan. The following season, he joined

ŁKS Łódź ŁKS Łódź (''Łódzki Klub Sportowy Łódź''; ) is a Polish sports club based in Łódź. They are best known for their football club but are represented in many sports such as basketball, volleyball, boxing, and in the past ice hockey, ...

helping them win promotion that season.

New Zealand

In 2017, he joined ISPS Handa Premiership side Tasman United in the New Zealand first tier, being recommended by a friend who played in the league. In the offseason, he joined North Wellington AFC in New Zealand's second tier Central Premier League, where he helped lead the team to the league championship and won the Golden Boot as the league's top goalscorer with 23 goals, while also adding another three goals in the 2018 Chatham Cup. He was also named the league player of the year. In September 2018, he then returned to the top tier for the new season, joining Canterbury United.

Canada

In 2019, he returned to the North American continent to play in

with

Vaughan Azzurri Vaughan Azzurri is a Canadian semi-professional soccer team based in Vaughan, Ontario, that currently competes in the League1 Ontario men's and women's divisions. The semi-professional team was founded in 2014 by the Vaughan Soccer Club, which ...

. He featured in the

2019 Canadian Championship The 2019 Canadian Championship was the twelfth edition of the Canadian Championship, contested from May 15 to September 25, 2019. Montreal Impact won their fourth Canadian Championship title (their tenth Voyageurs Cup) and earned a berth in th ...

against

HFX Wanderers FC Halifax Wanderers FC, also written as HFX Wanderers FC, is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League (CPL) at the top of the Canadian soccer league syste ...

. In July, he scored a hat trick against Durham United FA in 21 minutes. In his debut season with Vaughan he finished as the league's top goalscorer, winning the Golden Boot, as well as being named league MVP. In late 2019, he played in the

Canadian Soccer League The Canadian Soccer League (CSL; ) is a semi-professional league for Canadian soccer clubs primarily located in the province of Ontario, and claims the history of the Canadian National Soccer League (CNSL). It is a non-FIFA league previously ...

with

FC Ukraine United FC Ukraine United is a Canadian soccer club founded in 2006. The team is currently a member of the Canadian Soccer League a league that is not sanctioned by any FIFA recognized body. Their home venue is located at Centennial Park Stadium in Etob ...

. On August 10, 2020, Kowal signed with

Canadian Premier League The Canadian Premier League (CPL or CanPL; ) is a professional Association football, soccer league in Canada and the highest level of the Canadian soccer league system. The league comprises eight teams, from five of provinces and territories of ...

side

Atlético Ottawa Atlético Ottawa is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Ottawa, Ontario. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League and plays its home games at TD Place. The team was founded in 2020 by Spanish club Atlético Madrid. History F ...

. He made his debut in Ottawa's inaugural match on August 15 against York9, coming on as a substitute and playing out a 2–2 draw.

Germany

On October 27, 2020, Kowal joined German club Germania Halberstadt in the fourth tier

Regionalliga Nordost The Regionalliga Nordost is the fourth tier of German football league system, German football in the states of Berlin, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony-Anhalt, Saxony and Thuringia. These comprise the states of former East Germany ...

. A day later, he made his debut for the club scoring a goal against Chemie Leipzig. He celebrated the goal by taking off his jersey, which earned him a second yellow card, resulting in him being ejected from the match. He then had to return to Canada, due to travel issues, before returning to Germany, however, the season was suspended soon after for the remainder of 2020, due to the second wave of the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. In July 2022, Kowal joined newly promoted side Greifswalder FC in the same division. After a season with Greifswalder, he left the club in the summer of 2023.

Return to Canada

In 2024, he returned to Canada, joining Scrosoppi FC in

. In 2025, he began playing with the Canadian Crusaders in Major League Indoor Soccer.

Personal life

Born in

Mississauga Mississauga is a Canadian city in the province of Ontario. Situated on the north-western shore of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, it borders Toronto (Etobicoke) to the east, Brampton to the north, Milton to the northwest, ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

in Canada, Kowal's family has Ukrainian origin, although his parents were both born in Poland. He holds dual citizenship with Poland and Canada. His father played professional basketball professional in Poland with AZS Szczecin and AZS Koszalin. He attended St. Paul Secondary School in Mississauga and played youth soccer for the Erin Mills Eagles SC, where he won the U18 provincial championship in 2009.

Career statistics

References

External links

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Maksym Kowal
at FuPa {{DEFAULTSORT:Kowal, Maksym 1991 births Living people Men's association football forwards Canadian men's soccer players Soccer players from Toronto Soccer players from Mississauga Canadian people of Ukrainian descent Canadian people of Polish descent New Zealand Football Championship players League1 Ontario players Canadian Soccer League (1998–present) players Canadian Premier League players Vaughan Azzurri players II liga players III liga players Regionalliga players Barnstaple Town F.C. players Carlton Town F.C. players Des Moines Menace players ŁKS Łódź players Olimpia Zambrów players Raków Częstochowa players Tiverton Town F.C. players Toronto Lynx players Widzew Łódź players Tasman United players FC Ukraine United players Atlético Ottawa players VfB Germania Halberstadt players Greifswalder FC players Scrosoppi FC players Canadian expatriate men's soccer players Expatriate men's association footballers in New Zealand Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Canadian expatriate sportspeople in England Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Canadian expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Germany 21st-century Canadian sportsmen Alliance United FC players