Contract extension for Karifa Yao
MONTREAL – CF Montréal announced on Friday that defender Karifa Yao signed a contract extension, agreeing to an additional option year in 2024.
The Club also announced that Yao and midfielder Jean-Aniel Assi have been loaned to Cavalry FC of the Canadian Premier League. The loans for both players run through to the end of the 2022 season with CF Montréal reserving the right to terminate the loan at any time.
"We decided to loan Karifa and Jean-Aniel as we did recently with Jonathan (Sirois) and Sean (Rea) following similar positive experiences last season," said CF Montréal Sporting Director Olivier Renard. "It is important for these young players to get quality playing time to continue their development. Karifa's stint with Cavalry in 2021 showed us the benefits for his young career. We wish them the best of luck this season."
Loaned to Cavalry FC in 2021, Yao featured in 26 CPL matches, helping to lift the Albertan side to a second-place finish in league standings. He finished in the top five league wide in almost every defensive category, including blocks, clearances, duels won, and aerial duels won. The 21-year-old defender also came in 16th in the CPL50 list, a series recognizing the top 50 players from the 2021 CPL regular season, as voted on by a panel of coaches from all eight teams and media from OneSoccer and CanPL.ca. Yao signed his first professional contract on June 4, 2019, and played his first professional minutes on September 20, 2020, coming on as a substitute against the Philadelphia Union. He played two games, including one start, for a total of 127 minutes of play. Yao joined the Academy in 2017 from amateur club Les Étoiles de l’Est.
Born in Adzopé, Ivory Coast, Assi signed his first professional contract with the first team in December 2020, after joining the Academy in 2017. He has also played with Canada’s U15 squad. On December 15, 2020, against Club Olimpia of Honduras in Concacaf Champions League play, Assi became the youngest player to have played minutes with the Club's first team, at 16 years and 125 days old.
Transaction: Defender Karifa Yao signed a contract extension, agreeing to an additional option year in 2024. Yao and midfielder Jean-Aniel Assi have also been loaned to Cavalry FC of the Canadian Premier League for the 2022 season.
