{"id":790085,"date":"2026-07-09T08:05:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T08:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/790085\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T08:05:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T08:05:14","slug":"how-does-brampton-produce-so-many-star-soccer-players-player-promise-david-weighs-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/790085\/","title":{"rendered":"How does Brampton produce so many star soccer players? Player Promise David weighs in"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Text<\/p>\n

Listen to this article<\/p>\n

Estimated 4 minutes<\/p>\n

The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s in the water in Brampton?<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the question executive director of the Brampton Soccer Club, Paula Phillips, has been asking herself since the 2026 FIFA World Cup began.<\/p>\n

On the men\u2019s team, six players were either born in or grew up in the Greater Toronto Area city, and Phillips says all of them played at Brampton Soccer Club at some point in their youth, either recreationally or competitively.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is where they started, this is where that interest got sparked,\u201d she said, holding a jersey covered with player signatures.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That list of six includes Promise David, Liam Millar, Cyle Larin, Jayden Nelson, Tajon Buchanan and Jonathan Osorio.<\/p>\n

\"aExecutive director of the Brampton Soccer Club Paula Phillips holds up a jersey signed by former club players who played on the World Cup stage for Team Canada. (Joe Fiorino\/CBC)<\/p>\n

But the Brampton soccer star power doesn\u2019t stop there \u2013 it’s also the hometown of former Team Canada captain Atiba Hutchinson as well as Olympic gold medalists in women\u2019s soccer: Ashley Lawrence and Kadeisha Buchanan.<\/p>\n

Phillips says this World Cup in particular has boosted interest in the club, which extended its outdoor league registration by a week to accommodate the surge.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey hear so much about the players that are playing for their country,\u201d she said. \u201cThey think, \u2018I want to be that. I want to do that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"UnionPromise David of Brampton, Ont., scored 24 goals in all competitions this season for Union Saint-Gilloise in Belgium, with eight of those coming in the 10-game championship round. (Tom Goyvaerts\/Belga\/AFP via Getty Images)City infrastructure praised by star player Promise David<\/p>\n

On Sunday, some of the team touched down back in Toronto after their loss in the knockout round against Morocco in Houston.<\/p>\n

Among them, Brampton\u2019s own Promise David, who was asked what helped him grow as a player in his hometown.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat allowed me to continue playing football was the infrastructure around football,\u201d he said. \u201cTournaments, the OFSAA (Ontario Students Federation of School Athletics), the introduction of a new soccer center.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think with this World Cup, the entire nation got to see how special football can be, and millions of kids just found a new love for football.\u201d<\/p>\n

WATCH | Promise David gives a shoutout to Ontario’s soccer infrastructure:<\/p>\n

The city is home to the Brampton Soccer Centre \u2013 which has seven indoor and outdoor multisport fields where local clubs and recreational teams train.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The soccer centre was revitalized in 2020 under Mayor Patrick Brown, incorporating professional-sized turf fields, an indoor dome to support year-round play, new washrooms and changing facilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s something special happening here in Brampton with soccer,\u201d Brown said at the unveiling of a new mural inside the soccer centre on Tuesday. <\/p>\n

\"aA new mural painted by Paul-Glyn Williams (A.K.A., Sum Artist) is up in the Brampton Soccer Centre, entitled Moment of Impact, as a tribute to the legacy of soccer stars in Brampton. (Joe Fiorino\/CBC)<\/p>\n

\u201cThis recreation centre is one of the many amenities we have in the city that are dedicated to soccer that are helping produce great talent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown also credits the growth of the sport to strong recreational and competitive leagues that attract top talent and push players to the highest level of excellence. <\/p>\n

Hometown heroes inspiring the next generation<\/p>\n

Phillips says the Brampton Soccer Club went to every public World Cup watch party in the city to connect with families inspired by Team Canada\u2019s historic run.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey find out where the players started, and it’s like, \u2018Oh, wow, they played U4 too?\u2019 Yep, they played House League,\u201d said Phillips.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gives them the aspiration of: this is where I can go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Brown says his own kids are asking for more after-school soccer time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur fields are already jam packed, and I’m sure every parent has the same question from their kids right now. Everyone wants to be the next Cyle Larin, the next Atiba Hutchinson,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cI guess we’re going to need to invest in even more soccer fields in the years ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":790086,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-790085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=790085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/790085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/790086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=790085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=790085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=790085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}