Gabriel Wiethaeuper-Balbinotti (born April 12, 1998) 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 for CS Trois-Rivières in Ligue2 Quebec.

Early life

Born 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, ...

to Brazilian parents, Balbinotti spent the early years of his childhood in

Porto Alegre Porto Alegre (, ; , ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian Federative units of Brazil, state of Rio Grande do Sul. Its population of roughly 1.4 million inhabitants (2022) makes it the List of largest cities in Brazil, 11th-most p ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, where he attended Pan American School. He moved to

Kirkland, Quebec Kirkland is an Greater Montreal, on-island suburb on the Island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. It is named after Charles-Aimé Kirkland, a Quebec provincial politician. It was incorporated as a town in 1961. Kirkland is primarily a ...

when he was eight years old and played for the Hudson Saint-Lazare soccer club. He then moved to

Trois-Rivières Trois-Rivières (, ; ) is a city in the Mauricie administrative region of Quebec, Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Saint-Maurice River, Saint-Maurice and Saint Lawrence River, Saint Lawrence rivers, on the north shore of the Sain ...

, Quebec four years later. He settled in Montreal to join 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 ...

in 2012.

College career

In 2019, he began attending the

Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières The (, ''University of Quebec in Trois-Rivières'', UQTR), also known as "l'université du peuple", established in 1969 and mainly located in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada, is a public university within the network. As of April 2016, the uni ...

, playing for the

UQTR Patriotes The UQTR Patriotes () are the athletic teams that represent the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada. The university features teams in swimming (sport), swimming, golf, ice hockey, hockey, association footb ...

men's soccer team. In 2019, he helped them to win the

U Sports men's soccer championship The U Sports Men's Soccer Championship is a Canadian university soccer tournament conducted by U Sports, and determines the men's national champion. The tournament involves the champions from each of Canada's four regional sports conferences. The S ...

, scoring three goals during the final tournament.

Club career

Balbinotti progressed through the youth ranks of

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional 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 sanctioned by the United ...

club Montreal Impact. At the

2014 MLS All-Star Game The 2014 AT&T Major League Soccer All-Star Game was the 19th annual Major League Soccer All-Star Game. It took place on August 6, 2014 at Providence Park, the home of MLS club Portland Timbers. The game was televised live on ESPN2 and UniMás i ...

, he played for the youth all-star team against the Bayern Munich U16s. In 2015, he joined the Under-18 squad competing in the

U.S. Soccer Development Academy The U.S. Soccer Development Academy (DA) was an American soccer league. Formed in 2007, the league featured youth academies and youth clubs from various organizations, including Major League Soccer and the United Soccer League. The DA's mission ...

. He scored three goals in 21 games in his debut season, before adding 23 goals in as many games during the 2016–17 campaign. On February 28, 2018, Balbinotti joined

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 ...

side Ottawa Fury. After the 2018 season, the Fury would announce that Balbinotti would not return to the Fury for the 2019 season. In May 2019, Balbinotti joined PLSQ team

FC Lanaudière Football Club Lanaudière was a Canadian semi-professional soccer club based in Lanaudière-Nord, Quebec that plays in the Première Ligue de soccer du Québec. The club was founded in 2016 by the Association Régionale de Soccer (ARS) Lanaudiè ...

. In his first season in the PLSQ, he scored six goals in 10 appearances. In December 2019, Balbinotti was drafted seventh overall in the

2019 CPL–U Sports Draft The 2019 CPL–U Sports Draft was the second annual CPL–U Sports Draft. It was held on November 11, 2019 in Montreal, Quebec. Seven Canadian Premier League (CPL) teams selected 14 eligible U Sports athletes in total. Format Each CPL team wil ...

Forge FC Forge FC, also known as Forge Football Club, Forge FC Hamilton, or Hamilton Forge FC, is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Hamilton, Ontario, that competes in the Canadian Premier League, the top tier of Canadia ...

. On July 31, 2020 he signed a deal with

. He returned to the PLSQ and FC Lanaudière in 2021. For the 2022 season, he signed with

Celtix du Haut-Richelieu Celtix du Haut-Richelieu is a Canadian semi-professional soccer club based in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec that plays in Ligue1 Québec in the third tier of Canadian soccer, since 2020. History The club was originally formed in 1969, with ...

. In 2025, he played with

in Ligue2 Québec. He scored a hat trick on April 19, 2025 against AS Chaudiere-Ouest.

International career

In 2013, Balbinotti was called up to two camps with the Canadian U-15 national team. He was named to the U15 national team for the

2013 Copa de México de Naciones Thirteen or 13 may refer to: * 13 (number) * Any of the years 13 BC, AD 13, 1913, or 2013 Music Albums * ''13'' (Black Sabbath album), 2013 * ''13'' (Blur album), 1999 * ''13'' (Borgeous album), 2016 * ''13'' (Brian Setzer album), 2006 * ...

. In January 2018, he was called up to the Canadian U-23 national team camp in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

for the first time. In 2017, he was called up to a Quebec-Canada U20 team to play friendlies against Haiti U20, who were preparing for the

2017 Jeux de la Francophonie The 2017 Jeux de la Francophonie, also known as ''VIIIèmes Jeux de la Francophonie'' (French language, French for ''8th Francophone Games''), informally known as Abidjan 2017, took place in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, from July 21–30. This was the f ...

Career statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Balbinotti, Gabriel 1998 births Living people Men's association football forwards Canadian people of Brazilian descent Canadian Premier League players Canadian men's soccer players Forge FC draft picks Forge FC players CF Montréal players Ottawa Fury FC players Ligue1 Québec players Soccer players from Montreal Footballers from Porto Alegre University and college men's soccer players in Canada USL Championship players FC Lanaudière players Celtix du Haut-Richelieu players 21st-century Canadian sportsmen A.S. Blainville players