Liam Scott Fraser (born February 13, 1998) 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 ...

for

Belgian First Division B The Challenger Pro League (previously known as ''1B Pro League'') is the second-highest division in the Belgian football league system, one level below the Belgian First Division A. It was created by the Royal Belgian Football Association in 2016 ...

club

Deinze Deinze () is a city and a municipality in the Belgian province of East Flanders. It comprises the city of Deinze, and the towns of Astene, Bachte-Maria-Leerne, Gottem, Grammene, Hansbeke, Landegem, Meigem, Merendree, Nevele, Petegem-aan-de-Lei ...

and the Canada national team.

Club career

Early career

He began playing youth soccer with

Waterloo United BVB International Academy Waterloo is a Canadian semi-professional soccer club based in Waterloo, Ontario that plays in the League1 Ontario men's and women's divisions. Their home stadium is Warrior Field at the University of Waterloo. Water ...

, Peach Arch AC, and Surrey Guildford. Fraser was part of the

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency Whitecaps FC Academy is a Canadian soccer team, the academy of professional team Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as ...

program until January 2013, when he moved to

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 ...

. Fraser was critical of the Whitecaps organization and cited a lack of opportunity as the main reason for his switch. He represented

TFC Academy Toronto FC Academy, also known as TFC Academy, is the youth academy and development system of Canadian Major League Soccer club Toronto FC. The academy has divisions from U14 to U19 and includes over 110 young players. The senior academy team is ...

in both

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 ...

and the

Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United States soccer league syste ...

in 2015.

Toronto FC II

In 2015, Fraser was later called up to represent affiliate club

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 ...

, and went on to make 10 appearances during the

2015 USL season The 2015 USL season was the fifth season of the United Soccer League (USL) and the first under its new name (previously the league was called USL Pro). This season represented a substantial expansion from 14 teams in 2014 to 24 teams in 2015, and ...

. On June 6, 2015, Fraser made his professional debut in a 0–0 draw with

Harrisburg City Islanders Penn FC (formerly the Harrisburg City Islanders) was an American professional soccer team based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 2003, the team most recently played in the USL Pro, the second tier of the United States soc ...

. He signed his first professional contract on February 9, 2016, when he joined

on a permanent basis ahead of the

2016 USL season The 2016 USL season was the sixth season of the United Soccer League and the twenty-second season of USSF sanctioned Division III play organized by the United Soccer Leagues. On August 6, 2015, the league announced that the season would cons ...

. In 2017, amongst rumours that he would sign a first team deal with

, Fraser was listed #15 in the USL's annual 20 Under 20 list. During the 2017 offseason, Fraser would train with Danish club

HB Køge HB Køge () is a professional Danish football club based primarily in the town of Herfølge, and secondly in the town of Køge, both in the Køge Municipality, part of 'Region of Zealand', in the eastern part of Zealand, south of Copenhagen. ...

. Upon completion of the 2017 season, Toronto FC II would exercise the option on Fraser's contract for the 2018 season.

Toronto FC

He signed with

as a homegrown player on January 19, 2018. On April 14, 2018, Fraser made his debut for the first team, in a Major League Soccer game against the Colorado Rapids. Fraser would have his option for the 2020 season exercised by Toronto, keeping him with the club for 2020. On May 3, 2021, Fraser was loaned to fellow MLS side

Columbus Crew SC The Columbus Crew, formerly known as Columbus Crew SC, is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference and began play in 1996 as o ...

for the remainder of the 2021 season, with Toronto receiving $50,000 of General Allocation Money.

Deinze

In January 2022, Fraser joined

side

on a two and a half-year deal. He made his debut for the club on February 9 against

Westerlo Westerlo () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises seven towns: * Westerlo centrum * * Tongerlo * Heultje * Voortkapel * Oosterwijk * In 2021, Westerlo had a total population of 25,288. T ...

International

Youth

Fraser was called up to the Under-20 Development Camp squad in

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

in September 2015, but did not feature under coach

Rob Gale Rob or ROB may refer to: Places * Rob, Velike Lašče, a settlement in Slovenia * Roberts International Airport (IATA code ROB), in Monrovia, Liberia People * Rob (given name), a given name or nickname, e.g., for Robert(o), Robin/Robyn * Rob ...

. He was then called up for the Under-20 International Camp squad in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

in March 2016, but again failed to make his international debut. In August 2016, Fraser was called up to the U-20 team for a pair of friendlies against Costa Rica In February 2017, Fraser was named to Canada's roster for the

2017 CONCACAF U-20 Championship The 2017 CONCACAF Under-20 Championship was the 5th edition of the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship (26th edition if all eras included), the men's under-20 international football tournament organized by CONCACAF. It was hosted in Costa Rica betwe ...

Fraser was named to the Canadian U-23 provisional roster for the

2020 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship The 2020 CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying Championship was the fifteenth and final edition of the CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying, the quadrennial, international, age-restricted football tournament organised by CONCACAF to determine which men' ...

on February 26, 2020.

Senior

After multiple camp call-ups in 2018 and 2019, Fraser made his debut for the Canadian senior team on October 15, 2019, as a substitute in a 2–0 win against the

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territor ...

. In July 2021 Fraser was named to Canada's squad for the

2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 16th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial international men's soccer championship of the North, Central American, and Caribbean region organized by CONCACAF. The tournament was originally scheduled ...

. In November 2022, Fraser was named to Canada's squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022; it is the first Wo ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Club

Columbus Crew *

Campeones Cup The Campeones Cup is an annual North American association football match contested between the winners of the previous MLS Cup from Major League Soccer and the winners of the Campeón de Campeones from Liga MX. The competition was established by ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fraser, Liam 1998 births Living people Canadian soccer players Canada men's youth international soccer players Canada men's international soccer players Columbus Crew players Toronto FC II players Toronto FC players K.M.S.K. Deinze players Association football midfielders Soccer players from Toronto USL Championship players Major League Soccer players Belgian First Division B players Homegrown Players (MLS) Canadian expatriate soccer players Expatriate soccer players in the United States Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate footballers in Belgium Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Vancouver Whitecaps Residency players 2022 FIFA World Cup players