Frank Sturing (born 29 May 1997) is a professional soccer player who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

York United FC 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. History ...

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 ...

. Born in the Netherlands, he represents Canada at international level.

Early life

Sturing began playing youth soccer in the Netherlands at age five with Oranje Blauw. He joined the youth academy of

NEC is a Japanese multinational information technology and electronics corporation, headquartered at the NEC Supertower in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. It provides IT and network solutions, including cloud computing, artificial intelligence (AI), Inte ...

at age 10.

Club career

On 2 April 2017, Sturing made his senior debut for his debut for

in the Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

against Vitesse. In February 2018, he signed an extension until June 2020 with an option for an additional year. At the end of the 2019-20 season, he departed the club, upon the expiry of his contract, after 13 years with the club. In October 2020, Sturing joined

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

side

FC Den Bosch FC Den Bosch () is a professional football club from 's-Hertogenbosch, They currently compete in the Eerste Divisie. They were founded 18 August 1965, as FC Den Bosch/BVV. They are the successor of BVV (1906) and Wilhelmina (1890). Their stadiu ...

on an amateur basis. In September 2021, Sturing signed with Austrian 2. Liga side

SV Horn Sportverein Horn is a football club based in the city of Horn, Austria, which competes in the Austrian Regionalliga East, one of the third tiers of Austrian football, following relegation from the 2. Liga in the 2024–25. Founded in 192 ...

. In April 2022, he extended his contract for an additional season. He departed the club in June 2023. In January 2024, he signed with

club

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 ...

and

Pacific FC Pacific Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Greater Victoria, British Columbia. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League, playing home matches at Starlight Stadium located in Langford. History On May 5, 20 ...

had also been interested in signing him. He made his debut for York on April 26 against

Vancouver FC Vancouver Football Club is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club that competes in the Canadian Premier League, the top tier of the Canadian soccer league system. The club is based in Langley, British Columbia (district muni ...

. On January 21, 2025, Sturing re-signed with York United FC for the 2025 season.

International career

Sturing was born in the Netherlands to a Dutch mother and a Canadian father. He played at the youth international level with the Netherlands U18, Netherlands U19, and Netherlands U20 teams. In 2019, Sturing reached out to 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 ...

to let them know he was eligible and interested in representing Canada at international level. In 2020, Sturing obtained his Canadian passport with the goal of representing Canada at the 2020 Olympic Games, despite never having been to Canada before. In March 2020, he was named to the provisional squad for the Canada U23 for their Olympic qualification matches. However, the 2020 qualifiers were postponed due to 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 January 2021, he was called up to a training camp with the Canada senior team for the first time. In March 2021, he was originally called up to the Canada U23 for their postponed Olympic qualifies, but was then named to the Canada senior team roster for World Cup qualifiers. On March 29, 2021, he made his senior international debut and scored his first goal in an 11–0 victory over the

Cayman Islands The Cayman Islands () is a self-governing British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory, and the largest by population. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, which are located so ...

in a 2022 World Cup qualification match. He made a second appearance against

Aruba Aruba, officially the Country of Aruba, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in the southern Caribbean Sea north of the Venezuelan peninsula of Paraguaná Peninsula, Paraguaná and northwest of Curaçao. In 19 ...

, but has not appeared since.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Canada's goal tally first.''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sturing, Frank 1997 births Canadian people of Dutch descent Dutch people of Canadian descent Living people Footballers from Nijmegen Men's association football defenders Canadian men's soccer players Canada men's international soccer players Dutch men's footballers Netherlands men's youth international footballers NEC Nijmegen players FC Den Bosch players SV Horn players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players 2. Liga (Austria) players Canadian expatriate men's soccer players Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Austria Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Dutch expatriate men's footballers York United FC players Canadian Premier League players 21st-century Canadian sportsmen 21st-century Dutch sportsmen