Mathieu Choinière (born February 7, 1999) 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 as a

central midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

Swiss Super League The Super League (also known as the Credit Suisse Super League for sponsorship reasons) is a professional association football league in Switzerland and the highest level of the Swiss football league system. It has been played in its current fo ...

club

Grasshopper Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grassh ...

and the Canada national team.

Early life

Choinière was born in

Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu () is a city in eastern Montérégie in the Canadian province of Quebec, about southeast of Montreal, located roughly halfway between Montreal and the Canada–United States border with the state of Vermont. It is situa ...

and grew up in the neighbouring

Saint-Alexandre, Quebec Saint-Alexandre () is a municipality in the province of Quebec, Canada, located in the Regional County Municipality of Le Haut-Richelieu. The population as of the Canada 2011 Census was 2,495. Residents of Saint-Alexandre are called ''Alexandrin ...

. He began playing soccer with Celtix du Haut-Richelieu, before moving on to CS St-Hubert. In 2011, he joined 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 ...

and became the first player in the organization's history to play for the U13, U14, U16, U18 and U19 teams prior to joining the first team.

Club career

CF Montréal

Choinière signed an MLS contract with the Montreal Impact, later renamed

CF Montréal Club de Foot Montréal () is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Montreal. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. Founded in 1992 as the Mo ...

, on July 17, 2018. He made his first appearance the next day against the

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 ...

in the

Canadian Championship The Canadian Championship () is an annual soccer tournament contested by Canadian professional teams. The winner is awarded the Voyageurs Cup and a berth in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. It is contested by Major League Soccer sides Toronto FC, Va ...

. He made his first league appearance 3 days later against the

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Timbers have p ...

. Choinière would have his option for the 2020 season exercised by the Impact, keeping him with the club. In February 2022 Choinière signed a contract extension through 2024, with an option year for 2025. In June 2023, he was named to the 2023 MLS All-Star Game team after a standout first half of the season. During the 2024 season, Choinière was once again named an

MLS All-Star The Major League Soccer All-Star Game is an annual Association football, soccer game held by Major League Soccer featuring selected players from the league against an international club or selected players from another league. MLS initially ado ...

Grasshoppers

On 27 August 2024, Choinière made the jump into European football, signing a three-year contract with

side

Grasshoppers Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grassh ...

. He made his debut for his new club on 21 September 2024 against Servette, and scored the first goal in an eventual 2–2 draw.

International career

Youth

Choinière has been called up to various youth camps for

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 ...

. 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 ...

. In May 2018, he was called up to the Canada U21 team for the

2018 Toulon Tournament The 2018 Toulon Tournament (officially ) was the 46th edition of the Toulon Tournament. It was held in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône from 26 May to 9 June 2018. England won the tournament for the third successive year beating Mexico 2–1 i ...

. He scored a goal against

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in the fifth-place playoff. In October 2018 Choinière was named to the Canadian Under-20 squad for the

2018 CONCACAF U-20 Championship The 2018 CONCACAF Under-20 Championship was the 6th edition of the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship (27th edition if all eras included), the men's under-20 international football tournament organized by CONCACAF. It was hosted at United States betw ...

. He scored in Canada's second game of the tournament against Guadeloupe. Choinière 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 Championship, CONCACAF Men's Olympic Qualifying, the quadrennial, international, age-restricted association footbal ...

on February 26, 2020.

Senior

In November 2022, Choinière received his first call-up to the

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

senior side for a friendly against

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

, but did not feature in the match. On October 13, 2023, Choinière made his debut for Canada in a friendly against

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, coming on as a substitute for

Jonathan Osorio Jonathan Osorio (born June 12, 1992) is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Major League Soccer club Toronto FC, which he captains, and the Canada national team. Osorio holds the Toronto FC club record for mo ...

at the 61st minute. In June 2024, Choinière was named to Canada's 26-man squad for the

2024 Copa América The 2024 Copa América was the 48th edition of the Copa América, the quadrennial international men's association football, soccer championship organized by South America's football ruling body CONMEBOL. The tournament was held in the United Sta ...

Personal life

Choinière is of Filipino descent. His older brother

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

is also a soccer player.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Montreal Impact *

: 2019, 2021 Individual *

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Notes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Choiniere, Mathieu 1999 births Living people Sportspeople from Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Soccer people from Quebec Canadian men's soccer players Canadian sportspeople of Filipino descent Men's association football forwards Celtix du Haut-Richelieu players CF Montréal players Major League Soccer players Homegrown Players (MLS) Canada men's youth international soccer players Canada men's international soccer players 2024 Copa América players 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 21st-century Canadian sportsmen Grasshopper Club Zurich players Swiss Super League players Canadian expatriate men's soccer players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate men's footballers in Switzerland