CF Montréal U23, formerly Montreal Impact U23, was a Canadian

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 ...

team based in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada that played in

Ligue1 Québec Ligue1 Québec (L1QC) is a Semi-professional sports, semi-professional men's Association football, soccer league in Quebec, Canada. Founded in 2011 as the Première ligue de soccer du Québec, the league is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Asso ...

. They were the reserve club of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

club

CF Montréal Club de Foot Montréal () is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Montreal. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. Founded in 1992 as the Mo ...

and represented the highest team of the

CF Montréal Academy CF Montréal Academy (, formerly Montreal Impact Academy) is a soccer academy based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are the academy of Major League Soccer club CF Montréal. Founded in 2010, they operated a team in the Canadian Soccer League ...

. Previously known as Montreal Impact U23, in 2014, they played in the

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 ...

, the fourth tier. The team was replaced the following year with

FC Montreal FC Montreal was a Canadian professional association football, soccer team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada that played in the USL Championship, the third tier of the United States soccer league system. The team served as a reserve team of Major ...

in the professional second-tier

USL Pro The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional soccer league in the second tier of the United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) as its premier league for men above USL League One. Operating under a f ...

. In 2020, it was announced that the U23 team would be re-started for the 2021 season.

History

From 2010 to 2012, the

Montreal Impact Academy Montreal is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest in Canada, and the ninth-largest in North America. It was founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", and is now named after Mount Royal, the triple-pea ...

fielded their U21 team 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 ...

, which was recognized as a tier 3 league in the

Canadian soccer league system The Canadian soccer league system, also called the Canadian soccer pyramid, is a term used in soccer to describe the structure of the league system in Canada. The governing body of soccer in the country is the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA), ...

. However, the team withdrew from the league prior to the 2013 season, as the

Canadian Soccer Association The Canadian Soccer Association (; branded as Canada Soccer) is the governing body for soccer in Canada. Headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, the federation is a full member of FIFA and governs Canadian soccer at the international, professional, a ...

de-sanctioned the league as the CSA board of directors adopted a new soccer structure in Canada and also due to allegations of a match-fixing scandal. In 2014, the club decided to re-brand the team as a U23 team and entered the team into the

, in the fourth tier of the

United States soccer league system The United States soccer league system is a series of professional and amateur soccer leagues based, in whole or in part, in the United States. Although sometimes called the American soccer pyramid, teams and leagues are not linked by a system o ...

. They played their first match on 17 May against the

Westchester Flames Westchester Flames is an American soccer team based in New Rochelle, New York, United States. Founded in 1999, the team plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American soccer pyramid. The team plays its home games at City Park Stadium ...

, which they won by a score of 4–0. They finished the season in fourth place in the ''Northeast Division''. In 2015, the Impact decided to form a reserve professional team in the second tier

called

. As a result, the PDL team was disbanded with most of the players moving to the new pro reserve team. The club announced that they would reform a U23 team for the 2021 season. with

Patrice Bernier Patrice Bernier (born September 23, 1979) is a Canadian retired professional soccer player. A long-time mainstay of the Canada national team, the midfielder played the majority of his career with Montreal Impact in addition to playing in Denma ...

serving as post-formation supervisor, where he will work primarily with the first team players in the U23 team. Throughout the 2021 season, the U23s played friendlies against the teams in the

Première ligue de soccer du Québec A premiere, also spelled première, (from , ) is the debut (first public presentation) of a work, i.e. play, film, dance, musical composition, or even a performer in that work. History Raymond F. Betts attributes the introduction of the film ...

. They joined the PLSQ as formal members in 2022. In July 2024, they announced they would disband the team and depart Ligue1 Quebec (the re-branded name of the PLSQ) at the end of the 2024 season.

Record

Year by year

Players and staff

Coaching staff

* Patrick Viollat – Head Coach * Sylvain Hascoët – Assistant Coach * Christopher Cinelli-Faia – Goalkeepers Coach * Anthony Hostalier – Fitness Coach

Players with multiple nationalities

Notable former players

The following players have either played at the professional or international level, either before or after playing for the CF Montreal U23 team:

References

{{Première ligue de soccer du Québec – Men's Division Montreal U23 CF Montréal Association football clubs established in 2014 2014 establishments in Quebec Reserve team soccer in Canada Defunct Premier Development League teams

2014 in Montreal