A new partnership for the future

As an active player in the city’s French-speaking soccer community, Edmonton Fusion FC had established a partnership with a Québec-based Futsal club in 2018, Sporting Montréal FC, the 2017 Canadian champions. This time, Fusion expands its horizons and crosses the Atlantic to France to create an alliance with FC Bagatelle, a soccer (or football) club based in Toulouse. Edmonton Fusion FC is the first soccer club in Alberta to establish an official partnership with a French club.

Edmonton Fusion FC likes to do things differently and innovate. After Québec, it is in France that the club has found its new club partner, more precisely in the “Pink City” (“La Ville Rose”), Toulouse.

FC Bagatelle, has a strong soccer experience. Created in 1972, it is now composed of more than 20 teams from youth to adult categories. Affiliated with the professional club of Toulouse FC (which participated in the European Champions League in 2008), FC Bagatelle has trained many players who have become professionals.

“This partnership means a lot to Edmonton Fusion FC. It will allow us to position our club as a reference in Edmonton for the practice of soccer in French among young people,” says Joris Desmares-Decaux, President of Edmonton Fusion FC. Beyond language, the two clubs share common values such as respect, solidarity, humility, and fair play.

A cultural and sporting exchange.

Job Lilango, Technical Director of Edmonton Fusion FC also welcomes this new collaboration. “This will allow our young players to discover another soccer culture by interacting with players from an European club. In the future, why not be able to send a team to France to play in a tournament?” he states hopefully.
The collaboration will also allow the children of the French club to discover more about Franco-Albertan culture through soccer.