Steve Reed is the new Canadian Soccer Association President

The Canadian Soccer Association hosted their 2017 AGM this weekend in Whistler and here are the results of the elections including the votes on the 2026 FIFA World Cup bid and Canadian Premier League.

After Victor Montagliani was elected as CONCACAF President last year he was subsequently obligated to give up his position as CSA President and there was a lot of speculation over the last year as to who would run to lead the organization until 2020.

Three candidates emerged after the nominations window closed last month: CSA Vice President Steve Reed, Ontario Soccer President Ron Smale, and Quebec referee Florin Buturca, who was considered a long shot.

Smale has been at the helm of the Ontario Soccer Association, recently re-branded as Ontario Soccer, for four terms and served three years on the CSA Board of Directors. A few years ago he retired from his role as supervisor with the Toronto Transit Commission.

Reed, a native of Surrey, brought years of experience as former BC Soccer President before being elected as treasurer of the CSA in 2006 and then taking on the role of vice president for five years starting in 2012. An accountant who leads the tax division for prominent BC firm Manning Elliott, he was also Chair of the Audit and Finance Committee at the CSA for close to a decade.

Reed was announced as the winner on the first ballot and becomes the 34th president in the Association’s history. Futsal Canada congratulates Mr. Reed on his victory.

The vote allocation for each province and territory is based on their number of player registrations. Ontario and Quebec have the most registrations in the country and their voting power under the current system is capped at a maximum of 25% each. It was widely known that if Quebec and Ontario had combined their voting efforts for Smale that it would be an easy win for the provincial head. However, the Ontario board decided less than two weeks before the election to split their vote after a contentious year within the province and that opened the door for Reed who garnered favourable support from many key decision makers from across the country.

Two major items on the agenda featured the approval of the Canadian Premier League; a new national league slated to start in 2018, as well as the joint bid for the 2026 FIFA World Cup; which includes Mexico and the United States. Both items were passed easily with Hamilton and Winnipeg expressing their interest in joining as the first two franchises of the CPL.

Other board positions up for grabs included Hamilton native Nick Bontis defeating John Tzanis to keep his Ontario Director seat. The other regional spot went to Saskatoon native Don Story who won another term as Director for Saskatchewan/Manitoba/Nunavut over Kevin Dick.