''Soccer Dreams'', a.k.a. ''Football Dreams'', is a

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 ...

reality television programme that gives footballers ages 14–19 in North America the opportunity to win a contract with the

Everton Football Club Everton Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Liverpool, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founded in 1878, the club was a foun ...

. Based on the UK show ''

Football Icon ''Football Icon'' is a British television programme shown on Sky One. The programme gives young, unsigned football players between the ages of 16 and 18 a chance to win a contract with the then Premiership champions, Chelsea. Thousands of player ...

'', ''Soccer Dreams'' tryouts began on June 29, 2007, in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. Tryouts were also held 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 ...

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

and

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Manitoba. It is centred on the confluence of the Red River of the North, Red and Assiniboine River, Assiniboine rivers. , Winnipeg h ...

. At each trial, a team of coaching staff, including Everton Football Club Academy Manager Ray Hall, whittled the trialists down to 36 competitors. On August 20, the final 36 reported back to

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

, where they played for the contract at the Oz Dome. The show was produced by, amongst others, action film producer

Jalal Merhi Jalal Merhi is a Brazilian-born Lebanese-Canadian martial artist, actor and filmmaker. As a competitor, he was a regular on the tournament scene in the late 1970s to mid 1980s. As a film and television producer, he owns the Film One company, and ...

. ''Soccer Dreams'' debuted on June 7, 2008, on

Fox Soccer Channel Fox Soccer (formerly Fox Soccer Channel & Fox Sports World before that) was an American television specialty channel specializing in soccer, owned by 21st Century Fox, which operated from 1997 to 2013. It formerly broadcast rugby and Australia ...

External links

Soccer Dreams website
on

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by Internet Archive, an American nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California. Launched for public access in 2001, the service allows users to go "back in ...

Everton F.C. Soccer on Canadian television Association football reality television series 2007 Canadian television series debuts 2000s Canadian reality television series {{Canada-reality-tv-prog-stub