MONTREAL – CF Montréal announced on Wednesday the loan of two Homegrown players to the Canadian Premier League for the 2021 season, including a right to recall the players. Defender Karifa Yao will join Cavalry FC, while defender Keesean Ferdinand will join Atlético Ottawa.
“The idea behind these loans is to allow them to play minutes and earn experience,” said CF Montréal sporting director Olivier Renard. “These are two young players from our Academy in which we put a lot of trust in for the future. We hope they will grow and come back stronger with CF Montréal. James Pantemis’ loan last year is a good example.”
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.
Ferdinand signed his first professional contract on June 17, 2020. He joined the Club’s Pre-Academy at the age 10 from amateur club Panellinios. He then played for the different teams in the Academy and represented Canada at the U17 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, in 2019.
Transaction: CF Montréal loans defender Karifa Yao to Cavalry FC and defender Keesean Ferdinand to Atlético Ottawa for the 2021 season with a right to recall the players.
