‘Un club d’ici’: FC Supra turns to a Bilbao-style model to keep Québec talent at home

By representing its region's distinct culture and players, the Canadian Premier League team aims to boost the province's undoubted soccer potential

Boulevard Saint-Laurent is one of Montreal's great arteries, a throughway for gourmands coveting smoked meat sandwiches or proper pizza at one of a dozen different joints in Little Italy. It's also home to Evangelista Sports, a shop that has doubled as a shrine to the city's soccer-obsessed for more than 40 years and is every bit a part of Montreal's cultural fabric as poutine or lamenting the cold.

It's also where FC Supra du Quebec opted to announce their first-ever signings last week. The Canadian Premier League (CPL) expansion team is looking to become part of the city and province's cultural identity, hoping their commitment to recruiting a full roster of Quebec-born or raised players, inspired by European clubs like Athletic Bilbao, will go a long way in helping to build a pathway which has so often seen talent slip through the cracks.