First Touch Football Canada and TopDrawerSoccer have announced a new multi-year strategic partnership designed to expand meaningful player identification opportunities across the United States.<\/p>\n
The partnership brings together two organizations with complementary strengths: FTF Canada\u2019s experience operating elite identification events and creating player-first environments, and TopDrawerSoccer\u2019s national platform, editorial reach, rankings system, and longstanding presence within the American youth soccer landscape.<\/p>\n
The first joint event is scheduled to take place in Western New York in October 2026, with additional markets expected to include Fort Lauderdale, Detroit, Texas, and Seattle as the partnership continues to grow.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis partnership is about creating something that has real long-term value for players and families,\u201d said Marcus Hanson, Founder and President of FTF Canada. \u201cWe have spent years building events that prioritize the player experience, strong competition, meaningful evaluation, and legitimate pathways. Working with TopDrawerSoccer allows us to bring that model into the United States while adding national credibility, visibility, and a platform that players and families already trust.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unlike traditional one-off combines focused solely on registration volume, the FTF x TDS event model will emphasize competitive environments, credible evaluations, player development, and meaningful post-event visibility.<\/p>\n
Players who attend will compete against high-level opposition and be evaluated within an environment designed to identify talent rather than simply record games. Strong performances may also be considered as part of TopDrawerSoccer\u2019s broader player evaluation and rankings process, subject to its established editorial standards.<\/p>\n
\u201cFTF has built a strong reputation for operating high-quality identification events and creating an experience that puts players first,\u201d said Seth Burleigh, Chief Operating Officer of TopDrawerSoccer. \u201cWe believe there is a real opportunity to combine FTF\u2019s event expertise with TopDrawerSoccer\u2019s national audience, rankings platform, editorial coverage, and knowledge of the U.S. soccer landscape. The goal is to create events that players, families, clubs, and college coaches can view as credible and valuable.\u201d<\/p>\n
The partnership is intended to extend well beyond a single event or market. Both organizations have committed to building a long-term roadmap that allows the event series to grow thoughtfully while maintaining a consistent standard of quality.<\/p>\n
For FTF Canada, the partnership represents a significant step in the organization\u2019s broader expansion into the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are not looking to enter the U.S. market by simply copying what already exists,\u201d Hanson added. \u201cWe want to bring the standards, energy, evaluation process, and player experience that have helped FTF grow across Canada, while working with a partner that understands the American market at a national level. This is just the beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Additional details regarding the Western New York event, including registration, venue information, age groups, and event programming, will be announced in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n
About FTF Canada<\/p>\n
First Touch Football Canada is one of Canada\u2019s leading soccer event and player identification organizations. FTF operates combines, showcases, tournaments, rankings, and talent identification events across the country, helping connect players with collegiate, professional, and developmental opportunities.<\/p>\n
About TopDrawerSoccer<\/p>\n
TopDrawerSoccer is a leading source of youth, high school and college soccer coverage in the United States. Its platform provides national rankings, player profiles, recruiting information, editorial coverage, and analysis for players, families, clubs, and coaches across the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"First Touch Football Canada and TopDrawerSoccer have announced a new multi-year strategic partnership designed to expand meaningful player…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":818387,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-818386","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\/818386","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=818386"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818386\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/818387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=818386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=818386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=818386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}