Christopher Mannella (born June 7, 1994) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

Club career

Toronto FC

Mannella joined the youth academy of

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BM ...

in 2009 to play in the Canadian Soccer League. In 2014, he was a part of the inaugural season of

League1 Ontario League1 Ontario (L1O) is a semi-professional men's soccer league in Ontario, Canada. The league began play in 2014 and is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Ontario Soccer Association as a pro-am league in the Canadian ...

with Toronto's senior Academy team. He was named the team's captain and made 11 appearances for the side as they captured the regular season championship. On September 14, 2014, Mannella signed a homegrown player contract with

, making him the 10th homegrown signing in club history. Mannella was loaned to

Toronto FC II Toronto FC II is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Toronto, Ontario, who play in MLS Next Pro, a third tier league of the United States soccer league system. It is the reserve team and minor league affiliate of Toronto FC as well as ...

on March 20, 2015 ahead of their inaugural season in the

USL The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...

. He was named captain of the team upon his arrival. Mannella made his debut against the

Charleston Battery The Charleston Battery are an American professional association football, soccer club based in Charleston, South Carolina, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 1993, the Battery are one of the oldest continuously operating professiona ...

on March 21. After two years with Toronto FC II, the club announced they would not pick up Mannella's contract option for the 2017 season.

Vaughan Azzurri

In 2017, Mannella played for

side

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 ...

, scoring two goals in fifteen appearances. He was subsequently named to the league Second All-Star team at the end of the season.

Ottawa Fury

On March 16, 2018, Mannella signed with the Ottawa Fury after trialing in pre-season. That year, he made 29 league appearances and another four in the

Canadian Championship The Canadian Championship (french: Championnat canadien) is an annual soccer tournament contested by premier Canadian professional teams. The winner is awarded the Voyageurs Cup and Canada's berth in the CONCACAF Champions League. It is contes ...

. In November 2018, The Fury announced Mannella would return for a second season in 2019. In the 2019 season, Mannella made 30 league appearances and four in the Canadian Championship. He also started in Ottawa's playoff loss on penalties to

. The club ceased operations ahead of the 2020 season, making Mannella a free agent.

York United

On December 17, 2019, Mannella signed with

Canadian Premier League The Canadian Premier League (CPL or CanPL; french: Première ligue canadienne, links=no) is a professional men's Association football, soccer league in Canada. At the top of the Canadian soccer league system, it is the country's primary nationa ...

side

York9 York United Football Club (formerly known as York9 FC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto, Ontario. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League and plays its home games at York University's York Lions Stadium. Histo ...

, which later was renamed York United beginning the 2021 season.

Atlético Ottawa

On April 6, 2021, Mannella signed with

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 ...

on a two-year deal.

International career

On January 9, 2015, Mannella received his first call-up to the Canadian men's national team for friendlies against

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its ...

on January 16 and 19. He made his international debut a week later. In May 2016, Mannella was called to Canada's U23 national team for a pair of friendlies against Guyana and Grenada. He saw action in both matches.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Individual *

Second Team All Star:

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Team

Atlético Ottawa

**Regular Season:

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeyp ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mannella, Chris 1994 births Living people Association football midfielders Canadian soccer players Soccer players from Toronto Toronto FC players Toronto FC II players Ottawa Fury FC players York United FC players Atlético Ottawa players Canadian Soccer League (1998–present) players League1 Ontario players USL Championship players Canadian Premier League players Canada men's under-23 international soccer players Footballers at the 2015 Pan American Games Canada men's international soccer players Homegrown Players (MLS) Pan American Games competitors for Canada Vaughan Azzurri players Canadian people of Italian descent