The club creates a U23 reserve team
MONTREAL – The Montreal Impact announced on Friday important changes to its Academy, creating a reserve team composed by U23 players.
“The establishment of a U23 team meets an objective we had to add a post-formation step to the development structure of the club. It allows us to put the players with higher potential in a professional setting while controlling the playing time,” said Academy Director Patrick Leduc. “We have the privilege to count on a technical staff with strong experience at the professional level and our young players will benefit from that.”
Di Tullio, U23 head coach
Jason Di Tullio has been named Impact U23 head coach. On August 13, 2019, Di Tullio return to the club as the Impact U17 head coach. From 2015 to 2017, he was an assistant coach with the club’s first team. Previously, with the Academy, he had been the Impact U16 head coach in 2011 and 2012, then Impact U18 head coach from 2013 to 2015. Di Tullio was also the Association régionale de soccer de Lanaudière’s technical director for a year, while being an assistant coach for Canada Soccer’s teams. As a player, Di Tullio played with the Impact from 2002 to 2007, in the North American second division, playing 75 games, including 56 starts.
Di Tullio will oversee the U23 roster, taking in consideration the playing time for the first-team players. Di Tullio’s assistant will be Esteban Landazabal.
“I’m happy and excited with this new challenge,” said Jason Di Tullio. “I had the opportunity to work with all the post-formation groups, so I know what they need to reach the professional level, while giving them all the tools to succeed at the highest level. I’m excited to share my experience with them to help them reach the next step of their career.”
A modified role for Patrice Bernier
Part of this Academy changes in the structure, Patrice Bernier has been named post-formation supervisor. Bernier will be closely working with the new U23 team to help the first team players in the U23 team. He will also assist Di Tullio in some of the training sessions.
“I am happy to get this new role, which will let me maintain links with the Academy and to keep an eye on our development,” said Patrice Bernier. “I will have direct access to the young players, which will allow us to offer a more accompanied preparation to the first team. I will also give my advice coming from the pro level to the Academy sector.”
Three teams to develop the future
This new U23 team comes to the top of the club’s development pyramid, above the three existing Academy teams in the U14, U15 and U17 categories.
The U17 team will be coached by Nicolas Gagnon and his assistant Félix Brillant, the U15 team will be coached by Eduardo Sebrango and his assistant Romain Girard and the U14 team will be coached by Robert Rositoiu, while Simon Gatti will serve as his assistant coach.
The U17 and U15 teams will play in the new MLS developmental league.
About the Montreal Impact Academy
The Montreal Impact Academy was created in 2010. In 2011, it had U23, U18, U16, U14 and U13 teams. The club then announced the creation of the Pre-Academy with U12, U11, U10, U9 and U8 teams, and started in April 2014. The Impact founded FC Montreal as a reserve team in 2015. The team was playing in the USL and played two seasons until December 2016. After the stop of FC Montreal, the club made an affiliation with the Ottawa Fury FC from 2017 to 2019. In June 2012, defender Karl W. Ouimette became the first player developed by the Academy to sign a professional with the Impact’s first team. Since then, 20 players signed a contract with the MLS team and a total of 47 players from the Academy got a professional contract in Montreal or elsewhere.
