MONTREAL – The Montreal Impact announced Monday that Impact Academy director Philippe Eullaffroy has been named FC Montreal’s first ever head coach for its inaugural season in USL PRO, set to kick off in March 2015.
"First of all, we are pleased to confirm that the USL PRO agreement was finalized with the league and our team will be ready for its first game in March," said Vice-President of Soccer Operations Richard Legendre. “This new professional team will become a major asset for the development of our young players at the international level.”
"I am very happy to continue my work with this age group at a higher level," said Eullaffroy. “We can now provide these players with an even better tool to help give them a better chance to reach the first team.”
In 2014, Eullaffroy led the U23 team to a record of seven wins, five defeats and two draws, ranking fourth in the Northeast Division in its first and only season in the PDL.
He served as assistant coach with the first team in MLS in 2013, after having also been head coach of the U21 team during the previous three seasons.
Eullaffroy will be helped by assistant coach Simon Gatti, strength and conditioning coach Yannick Girard and goalkeeper coach Jack Stern.
FC Montreal, which is replacing the U23 team, will split its home games between the main field and the synthetic field at Stade Saputo. The team will practice at the club’s new training centre at Caserne Letourneux.
USL PRO will unveil details regarding the timing and format of the league shortly. FC Montréal becomes the 10th new team announced for the 2015 season, joining the Portland Timbers (T2), the Seattle Sounders FC (S2) and Real Salt Lake (Real Monarchs SLC) from MLS. In addition to the LA Galaxy (Galaxy II) team already in place, other MLS teams have affiliations with teams already established in the league.
