Mateo Restrepo Mejia (born April 29, 1997) is a former

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. Born in Colombia, he represented Canada internationally at the

U17 U17 or U-17 may refer to: Naval vessels * * , various vessels * , a submarine of the Austro-Hungarian Navy Other uses * Cessna U-17 Skywagon, an American utility aircraft * Nonconvex great rhombicuboctahedron In geometry, the nonconvex g ...

and U18 levels.

Early life

Restrepo was born in

La Ceja, Colombia La Ceja del Tambo, known as La Ceja, is a town and Municipalities of Colombia, municipality in the Antioquia Department of Colombia. It is part of the subregion of Eastern Antioquia. La Ceja borders the Rionegro and Carmen de Viboral municipalities ...

, and lived there until the age of five, when his family moved to Canada to improve their quality of life and the chance at a better education for Restrepo. He began playing soccer at the age of six with Toronto Sporting, later playing for the

Woodbridge Strikers Woodbridge Strikers Soccer Club is a Canadian semi-professional soccer club based in Woodbridge, Ontario. The club was founded in 1976 as a youth soccer club and added its semi-professional club in League1 Ontario in 2014. The team plays home g ...

. At age 13/14, he was invited to try out for the Ontario provincial team, which he ended up captaining and leading the U15 Ontario Provincial team to a National Championship in 2012. He then joined the

Toronto FC Academy Toronto FC Academy, also known as TFC Academy, is the Youth system, youth academy and development system of Canadian Major League Soccer club Toronto FC, which competes in MLS Next. The academy has divisions from U14 to U19 and includes over 110 ...

in 2011, where he played for three years. He was elevated to the junior team in 2012 that played in the Second Division of the

Canadian Soccer League The Canadian Soccer League (CSL; ) is a semi-professional league for Canadian soccer clubs primarily located in the province of Ontario, and claims the history of the Canadian National Soccer League (CNSL). It is a non-FIFA league previously ...

. In 2014, he had a training stint in England with the

Brentford F.C. Brentford Football Club is a professional association football club based in Brentford, England. The team competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Nicknamed "The Bees", the club was founded in 1889 and played home matc ...

academy. With the

, he played in

League1 Ontario League1 Ontario (L1ON) is a semi-professional men's soccer league in Ontario, Canada. The league is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Ontario Soccer Association. League1 Ontario consists of three tiers – League1 Premier ...

and 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 ...

. In his team's first ever game in League1 Ontario, he received the league's first ever red card in a match against

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 ...

on May 30. He helped them win the 2014 League1 Ontario title and was named to the 2014 League1 Ontario Top XI at the conclusion. In 2015, Restrepo joined the academy of German side

FC Ingolstadt 04 Fußballclub Ingolstadt 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Ingolstadt 04 or FC Ingolstadt, is a German football club based in Ingolstadt, Bavaria. The club was founded in 2004 out of the merger of the football sides of two other clubs: ESV Ingolsta ...

, playing in the

Under 19 Bundesliga The Under 19 Bundesliga (German: ''A-Junioren Bundesliga'') is the highest level in German Under 19 football. It was created in 2003 and is divided in three divisions (Nord/Nordost, West und Süd/Südwest) with 14 teams each. The winner of each ...

, after being noticed with his national team participation.

College career

Restrepo enrolled for college at the

University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an ...

, where he played for the men's soccer team from 2016 to 2019. He made his debut in a on August 26, 2016, against the

Oakland Golden Grizzlies The Oakland Golden Grizzlies are the athletic teams that represent Oakland University (OU) in the Horizon League and NCAA Division I, Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The school fields 16 teams: Oakland Golden Gr ...

, recording an assist. In his junior season, he took some time off from the team to focus on academics, due to the rigorous course load he was taking, as a result of his career goal of becoming a doctor. He served as team captain in is senior season, helping the team reach the quarter-finals of the

2019 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament The 2019 NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament was the 61st edition of the NCAA Division I men's soccer tournament, a postseason tournament to determine the national champion of NCAA Division I men's college soccer. The first four rounds of ...

. Over his four seasons, he made 66 appearances for Santa Barbara.

Club career

Restrepo made his professional debut for

Toronto FC II Toronto FC II is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Toronto, Ontario, that competes 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 we ...

on March 28, 2015, on an academy contract, when he was brought on as a substitute in a

United Soccer League The United Soccer League (USL) is an organizer of various professional and amateur soccer leagues in the United States league system. It currently organizes its Championship, League One, and League Two for men, its Super League and W Leag ...

match against

FC Montreal FC Montreal was a Canadian professional association football, soccer team based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada that played in the USL Championship, the third tier of the United States soccer league system. The team served as a reserve team of Major ...

. On January 22, 2020, Restrepo signed with

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 ...

side

HFX Wanderers Halifax Wanderers FC, also written as HFX Wanderers FC, is a Canadian professional soccer club in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League (CPL) at the top of the Canadian soccer league system, and play their home ...

. He made his first appearance for HFX on August 15, coming on as a substitute against

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 ...

. In late July, it was announced that he would depart the club and professional soccer to attend the

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS or Mount Sinai), formerly the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, is a private medical school in New York City, New York, United States. The school is the academic teaching arm of the Mount Sina ...

. In his final match on July 23 on

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 ...

, he was given the captain's armband to serve as team captain for the match. He made 37 appearances for the Wanderers, across all competitions.

International career

Restrepo made his debut with the Canadian youth national teams in 2011 at the age of 14. He joined the

Canada men's national under-17 soccer team The Canada U-17 men's national soccer team (also known as Canada Under-17s or Canada U-17s) represents Canada in international soccer at this age level. They are overseen by the Canadian Soccer Association, the governing body for soccer in C ...

in 2012 for the Torneo della Nazioni. He was elevated to the

Canada men's national under-18 soccer team The Canada U-17 men's national soccer team (also known as Canada Under-17s or Canada U-17s) represents Canada in international soccer at this age level. They are overseen by the Canadian Soccer Association, the governing body for soccer in Can ...

in 2014 and featured for the U-18's for two years.

References

External links

* *
UC Santa Barbara Gauchos player profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Restrepo, Mateo 1997 births Living people Men's association football defenders Canadian men's soccer players Colombian men's footballers Footballers from Antioquia Department Colombian emigrants to Canada Naturalized citizens of Canada Canadian expatriate men's soccer players Colombian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Colombian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Colombian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Toronto FC players Toronto FC II players FC Ingolstadt 04 players UC Santa Barbara Gauchos men's soccer players HFX Wanderers FC players Canadian Soccer League (1998–present) players USL Championship players Canadian Premier League players Canada men's youth international soccer players Toronto FC Academy players 21st-century Canadian sportsmen