Rareș "Chris" Șerban (born November 15, 1995) is a former 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 ...

player who last played for

Cavalry FC Cavalry Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer club based in the Calgary metropolitan region of Alberta. The club competes at the top of the Canadian soccer league system in the Canadian Premier League, and plays their home matches ...

in the

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 ...

Club career

Early career

Şerban spent his youth career with Calgary Villains FC and spent one year with the Calgary Chinooks before moving to the Whitecaps FC Residency program. He spent his college career at the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

. In his only season with the Thunderbirds, he made 16 appearances and tallied two assists, and was named 2014 CIS Rookie of the Year. Şerban also 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 ...

for

Vancouver Whitecaps FC U-23 Vancouver Whitecaps FC U-23, formerly known as Whitecaps FC Reserves, was a Canadian association football, soccer team based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Although founded in 2005 as part of the development system for the Vancouver Wh ...

Whitecaps FC 2

On February 24, 2015, Şerban signed a professional contract with

Whitecaps FC 2 Whitecaps FC 2 is a professional association football, soccer team based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada that serves as the reserve team of the Vancouver Whitecaps FC of Major League Soccer. History Prior to the MLS Next Pro iteratio ...

, a

USL USL may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Underground Sound of Lisbon, a Portuguese dance music project * Urban Strawberry Lunch, a band from Liverpool Companies * United Spirits Limited, India * Former United States Lines shipping company C ...

affiliate club of

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Vancouver. The Whitecaps compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The MLS ite ...

. He made his professional debut on March 29 in a 4–0 defeat to

Seattle Sounders FC 2 The Tacoma Defiance, formerly Seattle Sounders FC 2, are an American professional Association football, soccer team based in the Puget Sound region in Tukwila, Washington, United States. The team competes in MLS Next Pro, a league in the third ...

. He would spend three seasons with Whitecaps FC 2 before the club ceased operations after the 2017 season. Şerban would not be signed to a USL deal with the Whitecaps new affiliate,

Fresno FC Fresno Football Club was an American professional soccer team based in Fresno, California. Founded in 2017, the team was a member of the USL Championship, a second-tier league in the American Soccer Pyramid. Their first game took place on March ...

Cavalry FC

After playing the

2018 PDL season The 2018 Premier Development League season was the 24th season of the PDL, and the last under the PDL name. The regular season started on May 4 and ended on July 16. There were a total of 74 teams playing across 11 divisions with the addition of ...

with

Calgary Foothills FC Calgary Foothills Football Club is a Canadian soccer club based in Calgary, Alberta, that competes in League1 Alberta (L1AB). The club was founded as a youth club in 1972 and joined as a USL2 franchise in 2015. The team plays its home games at ...

, Şerban joined Cavalry FC of the

in December 2018. In April 2019 it was revealed Şerban suffered a season-ending knee injury during a pre-season match with

FC Edmonton FC Edmonton was a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club was founded in 2010 and competed in the North American Soccer League (2011–2017), North American Soccer League (NASL) from 2011 t ...

International career

Şerban is eligible to represent

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

through naturalization and

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

through birth. Şerban was a member of the Canadian under-20 national team that competed in the

2015 CONCACAF U-20 Championship The 2015 CONCACAF Under-20 Championship was an association football tournament that took place from 9 to 24 January 2015 in Jamaica. It determined the four CONCACAF teams that would participate at the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup in New Zealand. Q ...

. In May 2016, Şerban was called to Canada's U23 national team for a pair of friendlies against

Guyana Guyana, officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern coast of South America, part of the historic British West Indies. entry "Guyana" Georgetown, Guyana, Georgetown is the capital of Guyana and is also the co ...

and

Grenada Grenada is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The southernmost of the Windward Islands, Grenada is directly south of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and about north of Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and the So ...

. Şerban saw action in both matches.

Personal life

Şerban was born in

Bistrița (; , archaic , Transylvanian Saxon: , ) is the capital city of Bistrița-Năsăud County, in northern Transylvania, Romania. It is situated on the Bistrița River. The city has a population of 78,877 inhabitants as of 2021 and administers s ...

, Bistrița-Năsăud to Romanian parents. At age two, he and his family moved to

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

Honours

Calgary Foothills * PDL Championship:

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Calvary FC *

(Regular season): **Champions: Spring 2019, Fall 2019 *

Canadian Premier League Finals The Canadian Premier League final is the annual championship game of the Canadian Premier League (CPL), the top level of Canadian soccer. It is played as a single match hosted by the winner of the first semifinal against the winner of the sec ...

**Runners-up:

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Individual * CIS Rookie of the Year: 2014

References

External links

Chris Serban at Whitecaps FC 2Chris Serban at UBC Thunderbirds
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Şerban, Chris 1995 births Living people Men's association football defenders Sportspeople from Bistrița Soccer players from Calgary Canadian men's soccer players Canada men's youth international soccer players Canada men's under-23 international soccer players Romanian men's footballers Romanian emigrants to Canada Naturalized citizens of Canada UBC Thunderbirds men's soccer players Vancouver Whitecaps FC U-23 players Whitecaps FC 2 players Cavalry FC players USL League Two players USL Championship players Canadian Premier League players 21st-century Canadian sportsmen 21st-century Romanian sportsmen